


Prince of Slaves

by ie_heretic



Series: The Red Planet [2]
Category: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Culture, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Disabled Character(s), Don't Judge Me, Drama, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Dynamics, Frieza continuing to be racist, Genocide, I'm kidding, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Torture, One-Sided Attraction, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Outer Space, POV Changes, POV First Person, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Prophetic Visions, Royalty, Some Plot, Telepathy, attempted genocide, but I'm not telling you who, not romance/pairings focused but some relationships will be touched upon, the plot is just Trunks' daddy issues again but he got more people involved this time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2018-09-20 13:51:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 61,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9494303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ie_heretic/pseuds/ie_heretic
Summary: After the devastating events on Planet Vegeta and the subsequent recovery, Trunks returns stronger than ever. But with danger still on the horizon, the half-blood follows a new course, vowing to find his father amongst chaos. With Saiyans both familiar and new rallying to his side – including a vengeful oracle to guide the way – Trunks now faces the might of the Cold Empire standing in his path...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the (updated version) of the sequel to ADARB! If for some reason you are here and haven't read the first book, nothing in this story will have any context to you otherwise, but I really can't stop you from reading onwards if that's what you're gonna do. 
> 
> For those who're returning readers from book one, here is book two, finally. I will try to update as often as I can, but even if there is a long wait between chapters the story is not on hiatus unless there is a note saying so. Something else to note is that Prince of Slaves will have more original characters than the last book – that is, mostly original Saiyan characters, because canon is a little lacking in living Saiyans for my purposes. However, that being said, the story will still focus on the Toriyama-designed people prevalent in ADARB, with my own tweaks of course. No OCs will replace main characters, and the ones that do have bigger roles will be restricted to only a couple.
> 
> Please do review or comment if you like the chapter(s) – if there was something you really didn't, constructive criticism is fine, but haters will get ignored. 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

 

"I'm starting to think this might've been a bad idea."  
  
"What do you mean? It's not like you don't usually go along with my bad ideas, anyway."  
  
"Yeah, but people look at me as the voice of your conscience, or whatever. Y'know, the reasonable one. So guess who gets in trouble if, like, your mom finds out?”  
  
“She's been around Saiyans enough to understand that this is totally safe. Besides, Mom definitely wouldn't get mad at you. Has she ever been mad at you?”  
  
“As your proxy, yes. But seriously, I don't think bonding time with one's five-year-old sister usually involves her jumping off the tops of trees. I'm not even sure the climbing part is safe.”  
  
I rolled my eyes. “That's why we're here at the bottom. She's not in any danger as long as we're with her, and teaching her to fly properly is perfectly good bonding time. Besides, I've yet to see her actually get scared of anything so far.”  
  
Goten looked up, squinting in the light that streamed through the branches, trying to spot Bulla despite the sun in his eyes. The burning yellow disk was high in the sky, and it climbed every day that midsummer drew closer. The greenery was already all in bloom, thanks to spring, and as intriguing as the surplus of colours was to me, I instinctively craved the blistering heat I'd grown up in. Everyone else seemed to prefer our current seasonal stasis of occasional rain and mild temperatures.  
  
Four months. That's how long I'd been on this planet, and that was about how long Mom had promised our project would take.  
  
Just as I was about to call up and ask Bulla if she was nearing the top, something blue amidst the green appeared, moving around until I could clearly see my sister's form at the crown of the tree. One of her short, thin arms waved down at us.  
  
“I'm ready!” her small voice echoed down.  
  
“Alright!” I said so she could hear me. “Now, just remember what we told you! Don't worry, I promise to catch you if you can't do it!”  
  
“I can do it!” she replied. “Watch this!”  
  
“I'm not so sure I can,” Goten muttered, wincing as Bulla readied herself, then leaped from her perch and immediately began falling through the air.  
  
However, seconds after her launch, her path slowed and then came to a complete stop, channelling what ki she possessed to remain in the air and hold herself aloft. Unfortunately, she seemed to have a poor grasp on how to stay upright – her feet kicked towards the sky and her arms flailed, but she didn't move from place.  
  
“See! I can do it,” she stated proudly, slowly beginning to drift towards us upside-down, her long blue hair and the legs of her overalls the only part of her obeying gravity.  
  
“Um, good job, but... you know you're supposed to face the other way around, right? Or all the blood's going to go to your head,” I suggested.  
  
“I can go right-side-up if I want to,” she bluffed, trying to save her self-image. “I'm doing it this way 'cause I'll be smarter with all the blood in my brain. That's why I know how to tie my shoes and you don't.”  
  
“She has a point there,” Goten chuckled.  
  
“Excuse you, but I can tie a perfectly functional bow knot now,” I said.  
  
“Yeah – and it only took you, like, a hundred tries,” he mocked.  
  
“Says the guy who can't count that high.”  
  
“I can count that high,” Bulla interjected. “One, two, three...”  
  
A repetitive beeping starting coming from my pocket, drawing my friend's and sister's attention.  
  
Reaching into the left pocket of my jeans, I pulled out the ringing cellphone my mother had given me (technically the second one; I'd broken the first by accident underestimating my own grip). Oftentimes, I would forget it in my bedroom or random counter tops, as I used it only to make or receive calls and even that wasn't a common occurrence. Even so, Mom had it equipped with an excessive amount of functions, even by regular standards according to Goten.  
  
Although, while scouters had their benefits, I didn't mind having a device I could carry around in my pocket.  
  
The caller ID said it was Mom, so when I answered it I didn't bother to be formal.  
  
“What's up? Bulla's fine, if you're about to ask,” I said, glancing at my sibling trying to turn herself upright while levitating.  
  
“Good to hear, but that's not why I called,” Mom's voice came through the speaker. Then she paused. “Unless... you're letting her do something reckless?”  
  
“Of course not. So why did you call?”  
  
“Well, unless you've forgotten, the wedding is today and you won't be ready in time if you don't get back here.”  
  
“Ohhhhh,” I said, then moved the receiver away a little to address Goten. “Hey 'Ten, Mom says you're going to be late for your brother's wedding and he's never going to forgive you for it.”  
  
“We're not gonna be late. Besides, this jaunt was your idea,” he replied.  
  
I brought the phone back to its regular place. “Don't worry Mom, we're on our way.”  
  
“Alright then. Chi-Chi's here at Capsule Corp with Goten's stuff, so you can all come straight here.”  
  
“Okay. See you soon, Mom.”  
  
“Don't be too long,” she said before ending the call. I put my phone back in my pocket and turned to Goten and my sister.  
  
“Mom says we have to start getting ready for the wedding now,” I said. We'd already been out for a few hours, and on spotting the towering grove of trees (“Look at those tree trunks, Trunks!”) I'd had the bright idea of daring Bulla to climb it and practice her flying on the way down.  
  
Although it wasn't directly rule-breaking, with my mother's return a whole host of regulations for living on Earth came with her. Most of them were things to avoid doing, rather than what I ought to do – like no hitting things when angry; no flying where I could be seen; no climbing, especially up buildings or over fences; no cutting in lineups (because of my status I'd never had to stand in a lineup before, although I instantly hated it); no challenging rude people with hand-to-hand combat, and so on.  
  
As a preventative measure, Mom demanded that if I went anywhere unfamiliar, Goten would have to go with me. If it was an especially questionable venture, she made Bulla go too. Hence our current bonding time, although it wasn't like she minded it; I didn't mind either to a certain point. Neither my sister or friend actually stopped me from exploring, they just made sure I didn't get into too much trouble.  
  
“Yay! I get to wear my pretty dress!” Bulla squealed. In her excitement, her concentration broke and she would've fallen on her head if Goten hadn't been immediately next to her and caught her. She merely giggled as he turned her right-side-up and set her down.  
  
“I'm tired now. I wanna fly back on Nimbus!” she demanded.  
  
The strange, golden cloud in question was some sort of family heirloom that Goten had been handed down. He'd told me his father had gotten it from an old martial arts master of his a long time ago, and in turn Goten had been given it as a child to get him around before he could fly well.  
  
When I'd first seen it, I'd instantly wanted to know how it worked, but Goten had refused to give me any details unless, for some unknown reason, I showed him that I could ride it. We were so far still at a stalemate, since I refused to dignify his absurd curiosity.  
  
Goten called into the air, and we waited for no more than a minute when a growing speck of gold appeared against the backdrop of the blue sky, leaving a trail behind it.  
  
As soon as the cloud came level with us, Bulla sprang up and onto the soft yellow tuft.  
  
When Goten took to the air, the cloud followed him and I flew alongside, our group of three going along at a decent place through the warm sky – heading back to my temporary home of Capsule Corporation.  
  
  
                                                                                                   - ~ -  
  
  
Though quite possibly one of the most uncomfortable things I'd ever worn, Mom insisted that the suit she'd picked out for me was perfect.  
  
While Bulla leaped around happily in her delicate rose-pink dress, looking for all the world like a tree petal blowing on the wind, I felt awkward in my clothes, the shape of them too padded and constricting for my taste. The sole good thing was that they weren't itchy, at least.  
  
When I said so out loud, Mom clicked her tongue at me.  
  
“Oh, come on Trunks,” she said, putting the finishing touches on her makeup in the mirror. She wore a dark indigo dress without straps or sleeves that was about knee-length, and had her hair pinned up in a similar style to Bulla's. “It's not like you have to do this all the time. It's only for the day – and besides, you look handsome all tidied up like that.”  
  
“Is it a trade-off for how uncomfortable I feel? There's so many unnecessary layers I feel like an onion, and it's about as tear-worthy,” I retorted. (My first encounter with the vegetable in question was one of the select few, truly miserable experiences I'd had with Earth food thanks to my keen sense of smell, right behind Goten tricking me into tasting wasabi.)  
  
My mother heaved a long sigh at my answer. “If you aren't your father's son,” she muttered, finishing up with her cosmetics.  
  
After we were all ready, my mother drove us to the location Videl and Gohan had chosen for their wedding. Since the only wedding I'd ever been to – my parents' – was when I was too young to remember, and marriage wasn't a Saiyan custom, I didn't have any particular expectations for the ceremony.  
  
When we arrived, it was to an area largely outdoors, with gazebo-like structures for an open feel and vegetation flourishing everywhere both naturally and artificially placed. There were rows of seats to accommodate the guests, of which there weren't that many due to the desired personal feel of the occasion. Most of them were people I knew, excluding a select few. All the men were in suits, and all the women in dresses (Piccolo, as he was by technicality neither of these, wore his usual robes), and once everyone had arrived and was seated the event got started.  
  
The proceedings weren't long, but simple and eloquent enough. It mostly involved an older woman presiding over Gohan and Videl, who spent much of the time smiling at each other and tearing up as they said their words of promise, and the official declared them husband and wife. Gohan took Videl's hands in both of his – the mechanical prosthetic not noticeable in the slightest – and they, both clad in pure white, grinned brighter than the sun before they kissed, and everyone clapped.  
  
The food offered afterwards was a veritable celebration-sized buffet, and it had to be when six people with Saiyan blood were in attendance, not to mention the others there as well. A team of hired cooks had prepared it all ahead of time, so everyone was relaxed and, once satisfied, conversational. (It was also amusing to see my little sister eat nearly the same amount as my uncle.)  
  
Since it was a nice day, the meal had been served outdoors, leaving everyone milling about on the manicured grass or at the tables. As soon as I found the opportunity after offering my congratulations to Gohan and Videl, I'd shed my overcoat and tie, leaving them draped over a chair somewhere as I relished the warm sun with lessened discomfort. Mom rolled her eyes at me, but no one else seemed to care, too busy enjoying the weather and jovial conversation with old and new friends.  
  
Of course, the one person still missing was my father.  
  
Our efforts to find him by sensing alone had decreased with each month that he remained incognito. Even if he had raised his energy at some point, we'd have to be looking in the right direction, and aside from a brief spark of what Goku had been sure was Father two months in, we'd had no luck.  
  
There was one other method I'd tried to get Father's attention: telepathy.  
  
I could use it to communicate with Gohan alright, but from my efforts it didn't seem like my father could hear me. Every so often I would do it anyway, hoping that he might respond. I wasn't sure if he knew how, but one memory of mine – when I'd been losing consciousness from blood loss, back home after defeating Broly – I'd begged with my thoughts for Father's help, and he'd arrived.  
  
It was a slim hope, but he wasn't the only one in our family who was stubborn.  
  
“Hey,” Goten's voice interjected.  
  
I turned to look at him. Like me, he wore a black suit, but the design of the jacket was different and he wore a bow instead of a tie. His hair, which he'd had cropped short for months now, was brushed neatly, his bangs (the only longer part of his hair left) brushed to the side. He looked more comfortable than I was, but still not natural in the formal attire. He was taller than me since the Time Chamber.  
  
“They have desserts out,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets.  
  
“You know I'm not much for sweet food,” I replied.  
  
“I guess not,” he said, “but most people don't leave the wedding party just because they don't like the food.”  
  
“I haven't left anywhere. Just enjoying the sun with a little solitude, that's all. You're welcome to sit here with me.”  
  
He sighed, plopping down next to me. “Four months seems like a long time, huh?”  
  
“Two years,” I said. “Almost two years – four months out here, sixteen and a half in there. You can't blame me for being a little reticent at this point.”  
  
“True. But I thought you'd be a little more adjusted to Earth by now. More lukewarm between one home and another.”  
  
“I may have been born here, but Planet Vegeta is home. I suppose you being here makes Earth a little less strange, though.”  
  
“Not sure whether that's a compliment or an insult, but I'll take it.”  
  
“There's nothing wrong with this planet. It's beautiful. It's just... I did what I came here to do. I'm strong enough now to go back.”  
  
“I agree. But what's a few more weeks gonna matter at this point? That's all your mom needs to get the finishing touches on the ship. I'm sure your father is just back on Planet Vegeta, trying to manage things as usual.”  
  
“Yeah,” I finished noncommittally. Logically, if Father was home, he didn't want us there with him, or he wouldn't still be hiding his energy. But I didn't bother to say that. Instead, I let my mind wander off to other places.  
  
Soon, Mom would be finished building the spacecraft that could return us to Planet Vegeta. I'd assisted her of course, but she was the real engineer, so though I (and others as well) helped where possible, it was all a matter of waiting for her efficient yet careful hands to craft the machine that would take us home. __  
  
  
                                                                                                  - ~ -  
  
  
_As soon as I set foot on the tile, it was as if the spiritual energy of the place was palpable. Even though the lookout rested in the sky, it truly felt like I was at the edge of the world, nothing but blue sky and the occasional cloud surrounding the platform._  
  
_The figure that greeted us only served to increase the aura of the place._  
  
_He was like Piccolo, but also not – he was smaller, his green skin darker and heavily lined with wrinkles, and his eyes held a kindness and wisdom to them I didn't often see on a person. In one hand he held a long, wooden staff, and leaned on it a little to walk as he approached us. Behind him, a round figure with pitch-black skin watched us with large eyes, situated under a pale head-wrap of some sort._  
  
_The Namekian looked at each of us in turn, from Goku, to Gohan, to Goten, and then lastly to me, presumably the only unfamiliar face of the group._  
  
_“Welcome, Goku,” the alien said, “and to your sons as well, and to this young man.”_  
  
_“Kami, this is Trunks,” Goku introduced, setting down the bag on his shoulder. “Trunks, this is Kami – he made the Dragon Balls and he watches over our planet. The lookout here is where he lives with Mr. Popo.”_  
  
_I knew I was looking at the closest thing I'd probably ever see to a god, so I placed an arm over my chest and bowed deeply to the Namekian._  
  
_“I'm honoured to meet you,” I said._  
  
_“The honour is mine, young Trunks. May I ask what brings you to the lookout?” he asked._  
  
_“I'm here to ask you a favour,” I replied. “Goku told me there was a place here where I could train safely. Something... happened recently, and because of it I can't control my own strength without risking harm to other people. I want to master it and put it to good use.”_  
  
_“We were wondering if he, or we, could use the Time Chamber,” Goku said. “The plan is to let Trunks go in first alone, for about a month or two until he's sure he can control his energy enough to not hurt someone by accident. Then Gohan and I were gonna go in with him for another couple months – see if we got any clues to unlocking Trunks' new form ourselves – and then Gohan was gonna switch out with Goten.”_  
  
_“I see,” Kami mused. “You are free to use the Time Chamber for this. However, if there are three of you in at once, there won't be enough supplies for two years. If the first two months are only with Trunks inside, you may be able to last a total of a year and a half inside, perhaps less.”_  
  
_“That seems like enough time for Trunks to master this Ascended Saiyan, yeah?” Goten asked. “I'm kinda excited to see it, even if I have to wait a month or two.”_  
  
_“Technically, one year on the inside is one day on the outside. So two months is only about four hours for us,” Gohan said._  
  
_“It seems straightforward enough,” I said. At that, Kami nodded and gestured for me to follow him._  
  
_“Ah, wait – hold on a sec,” Goku interjected, causing me to hesitate. The man reached down, rusting through the bag he'd brought and then pulled out a couple sets of folded, turquoise-coloured clothes._  
  
_“We can't train in our regular stuff, so I brought us gis to wear. These ones are for you, Trunks, and there's a couple extra sets in case one or two get destroyed,” he explained, holding them out._  
  
_“Th – thank you,” I stuttered, taken off-guard as I accepted the clothes gratefully._  
  
_“I've been in the Time Chamber before, so don't worry. You can handle yourself for a month or two alone. Just remember to come out when you think you're ready, okay? There's a big hourglass and a clock inside for you to keep track of time. And don't wander too far away from the middle where the building is, or you might get lost,” he said._  
  
_I nodded, memorizing his advice for later use as I turned to follow Kami once more._  
  
_“Good luck, Trunks!” Goten said, and his brother and father echoed the sentiment as I trailed after the old Namekian, wondering what I was getting myself into._

__

__


	2. Chapter 2

_I awoke with a start, seeing only empty pale space in all directions and forgetting where I was for a moment.  
  
As I pulled myself to a seated position, I recalled that I was still inside the Time Chamber. What I didn't recall was choosing an arbitrary spot out in the middle of nowhere to sleep, so the only logical conclusion was that I'd involuntarily passed out.  
  
A month and a half in and this was the fourth time I'd done so.  
  
That aside, I was making progress. I didn't have any more flashbacks, but that didn't mean I was able to control my strength right away. The main problem with the Ascended form was how much of my energy it burned if left untempered. When I'd first unlocked it, my capacity had taken a giant leap, and naturally having so much new energy thrust upon a person at once – without enough experience – made it difficult to wield.  
  
To put it simply, even while in my right mind, the new form amplified my Saiyan instincts, and without mastery of my own increased ki... it was a double-edged sword.  
  
When I had become a Super Saiyan for the very first time, it had been the same way, albeit on a far lesser degree. I had a theory that each successive transformation – if there were indeed more of them – would follow the same pattern of honing their users closer to an apex Saiyan, bringing out the nature engraved on our DNA.  
  
Yet despite my inherited desire to fight for its own sake, I also remembered the other reasons and promises that drove me forward.  
  
I'd had a lot of time to think things over, since I'd been in utter isolation throughout the endeavour. (I wasn't the type of person who enjoyed talking out loud to himself, so despite the eeriness of the dead quiet, the only noise was caused by my movement.)  
  
But in my determination to grow stronger, I had a tendency to explore farther and farther away from the Chamber's centre, where I would exhaust myself training in my new form and occasionally pass out from overexertion. And there I would stay until I regained consciousness and dragged myself back to recuperate.  
  
Like I had to do now.  
  
My entire body hurt like a bitch, thanks to the heavy pressure the Chamber emitted the more distance out you went, paired with the muscle exhaustion that was self-induced. But I sure as hell wasn't going to stay here – sometimes, I thought I heard _ sounds _coming from the void, and even though I knew I'd imagined them, if being sequestered away in an endless alternate dimension didn't make you paranoid I didn't know what would.  
  
So I forced myself to get up and head in the direction of the least gravitational force, knowing it would lead me back to my temporary accommodations.  
  
Though I had been steadily getting stronger and stronger, part of me felt like I was falling into stagnation – excluding the habitual profanities that occasionally slipped out, I hadn't said so much as a single word in two months. Any change at all would be good enough, because if boredom of routine didn't make me lose it, godsforsaken solitude would.  
  
By the time I'd made it back to the building, I had made my decision. I continued on in towards where I knew the door to be, the one I hadn't touched or even looked at since coming into the Time Chamber.  
  
When I reached the entryway, I was sure to take ahold of the doorknob gently, so as not to repeat the mistake I'd made in my bedroom at Capsule Corp. But the handle showed no signs of giving, so with a measured breath I gave a tug, pulling the door open partway.  
  
However, I stayed where I was inside the threshold, though I could now sense the group of familiar energies outside, and everything beyond.  
  
__**Gohan**_ _, I said telepathically, unsure how else to catch their attention.  
  
__**Trunks?**_ _the man replied._ _ **Are you ready? Hold on, I'll get the others. We've been waiting here for you.**_ _  
  
I didn't reply, opting to merely loiter by the door until my companions showed themselves.  
  
It wasn't long before they did so, Goku being the first one to round the corner with a ridiculous smile on his face.  
  
“Hiya!” he greeted as he stepped in, followed by Gohan who offered a more formal 'hello.'  
  
I only nodded to both of them, certain that my voice would sound rusty if I didn't make some awful attempt to clear my throat first. However, a third face appeared at the entryway, also wearing a large smile.  
  
“Trunks! How are you hanging in there without me?” Goten blurted.  
  
It was odd to see a person so jovial when they'd just recently come back from the dead, but I wasn't complaining. It was a little odd, having him right there again like nothing had happened, but that dynamic was better than... well, anything else.  
  
Still happy to see him, even if it was just for a minute, I tried to respond, only to have my voice break halfway through the first word and I stopped.  
  
Goten paused, and then his expression took on the mischievous one so familiar to me.  
  
“Dude,” he said, “did your voice just crack? This must mean you've finally hit puberty!”  
  
“Oh, fuck off, you're not funny,” I muttered at him while he laughed at his own joke. “You're literally the first person I've spoken to in two months.”  
  
“Lighten up a little, and you might not be so easy to tease,” he responded. “Anyway, I'm gonna be waiting at the lookout here until it's time for me to swap in. You get a little more time with my nerd brother instead of me. Isn't that right, Gohan?”  
  
“I'm glad you're back too,” the elder sibling replied. Goten offered a cheeky grin in return, and then waved us a goodbye.  
  
“Don't hurt yourself until I get there, ladies!” he said, clicking the door shut behind him.  
  
Now it was just Gohan, his father and I present. I was actually excited to start training with the two Saiyans. Not only would it boost my progress, it would give me a chance to measure up against two of the only other people I knew of that were anywhere near my strength.  
  
  
_                                                                                                - ~ - _  
_  
  
Sometimes when I slept, I still had nightmares of memories I'd rather forget, but for the most part they stayed in the very back of my subconscious, permitting me peace whenever I closed my eyes.  
  
They were closed now, but I wasn't asleep.  
  
“Trunks, what on Earth are you doing?” Mom's voice drifted over, accompanied by her footsteps as she walked into the room.  
  
_Three_.  
  
I shook my head, staying quiet and putting a finger to my lips, indicating for her to do the same. I didn't hear her make any further noise, so I presumed she was waiting to stick around and answer her own question.  
  
_Two._  
  
I knew my target was there, among the lab equipment above me as I moved into place, still crouching. I couldn't open my eyes – not yet, even though I was a target too. And I was the one with a hand all but literally tied behind my back.  
  
_One_.  
  
A miniature ki blast came down at me, prompting me to roll out of the way and hear it fizzle out as it struck the ground. Thinking quickly, I fired an equally harmless one of my own, sending it past the metal beams above where I expected it to strike my target.  
  
Except it didn't. I heard it contact the ceiling and dissipate, and I furrowed my brows in confusion.  
  
That's when I felt the next one hit my shoulder, hardly feeling the impact but understanding the significance.  
  
I opened my eyes just in time for Bulla to tackle my chest and I let her knock me over.  
  
“I win, I win tag!” she cheered.  
  
“How can this be? I've been defeated!” I exclaimed over-dramatically, throwing my arm out as I lay on the floor and Bulla sat on my chest. “Mom, you'll have to go on without me – I was no match for the wiles of Princess Bulla!”  
  
My sister thought my acting was hilarious, laughing away and gloating over her victory, even though I'd had my eyes closed and used only one hand the whole game. It was similar to one I'd played with Goten when we were kids.  
  
“So this is how you're spending your so-called lunch break,” Mom sighed, though she smiled as well. “Has the victorious Princess eaten hers yet?”  
  
“Not yet,” the little girl in question replied. “But I defeated Prince Trunks, so that means I get his kingdom _and_ his lunch.”  
  
“Ugh. Your terms of surrender are merciless,” I said.  
  
“Come on, you two. If Trunks wants his ship to be done faster, he has to spend more time on it,” Mom reminded as Bulla got off me.  
  
“We're just about done it anyway,” I replied as I got to my feet. “Besides, do you really want me gone faster?”  
  
“Of course not. But by the way, I have a surprise for you – something I wanted to give you before you left, but I decided a little sooner wouldn't hurt.”  
  
I raised an eyebrow. “A surprise? Like what?”  
  
“It won't be a surprise if I tell you. Now come on, Tarble and your grandparents are probably waiting for us.”  
  
I did as I was told, following my mother and little sister out of our chosen laboratory and through Capsule Corp, towards the kitchen.   
  
While I ate more politely than the majority of Saiyans – I was a prince, after all – my habits were just within the boundary of acceptable by human standards. However, I didn't feel so odd about it when the only three pure humans in attendance were my grandparents and Mom, the latter of which had lived with Saiyans for years and had dropped a few proprieties of her own.  
  
Then again, my uncle had royal blood too, so he and I (and Bulla) were hardly the worst group of Saiyans to eat with.  
  
One would think that having Tarble and my mother both acting as parents for Bulla would be awkward or uncomfortable, even if just at first. In reality, it was surprisingly the opposite. Of course, Mom had been very emotional to see Bulla again, but the routine they'd fallen into over her was neither possessive on my uncle's part nor invasive on my mother's. The two actually got along well – perhaps it was because Tarble was like Father in some ways, and completely different in the rest.  
  
Once we'd finished lunch, Mom took me outside, presumably to give me the surprise she'd hinted at earlier. I really had no clue as to what it would be, but since I was about to find out I tempered my curiosity.  
  
“Any particular reason we had to go outside?” I asked.  
  
“It's something that needs a little more room,” she replied. Then, Mom stopped and reached into her pocket, pulling out what I first thought was a necklace of some sort.  
  
Looking closer, the object that hung at the end of it wasn't a pendant – it was a capsule, slightly smaller than all the other ones I'd seen.  
  
“No sense in having you lose it, so I attached a cord,” Mom explained as she offered it over.  
  
I took it, holding it up to inspect it. The capsule was blue and white, and unlabelled; the cord was metallic coloured and made from sturdy-looking box links, with a small clasp where the capsule attached to it.  
  
“What's in it?” I asked.  
  
“Open it and see,” she said. “But don't throw it away from you like normal, unclip it from the strap and throw it upwards more so you can catch what's inside.”  
  
Nodding once, I wrapped the strap around one hand, giving a small tug and the capsule clicked off. I still couldn't guess what would be in it, but Mom had said it was something I could catch, so it wasn't a large object (then again, I could lift most things on Earth that were several times my size).  
  
I pressed the button and tossed it up, watching it dissipate into a small puff of smoke. The object that fell out of it was narrow and longer than my arm and as I caught it, it clinked with the stop of motion.  
  
“This...” I murmured as I grabbed the handle of the object, withdrawing it from the protective covering.  
  
It was a sword, glinting in the sun with a faint black sheen.  
  
The crossguard was a similar shape to the one on the weapon I'd formerly had, but this one was without etching. The scabbard was an obsidian colour, and so was the grip, but the rest of the steel including the blade was a dark silver. It was heavier than expected, but not enough to be a hindrance.  
  
“It's carborite-alloy, the same thing I used to make Gohan's mechanical arm,” Mom said. “Not a naturally occurring material here, so not easy to recreate nor to reforge, so though it'll stand up just fine in battle don't throw it into a comet or anything. And while it does have flexibility and strength, you've probably noticed it's heavier, and even with that aside it's still not quite the same as your last sword. The capsule is so you don't have to carry it on your back all the time.”  
  
I gawked at her. “How did you...? How were you able to make this?”  
  
“You're asking how I used my IQ of two-hundred and seventy-three to make my son a weapon from Earth's middle ages? It's a secret,” she said, winking. “Although, I'll admit I did have a little bit of help making sure it was forged properly. You have Gohan and his books to thank for that.”  
  
I didn't know what an IQ was, but I didn't really care that it went over my head as I stepped back and experimentally swung the blade, feeling the balance.  
  
“It's perfect,” I said. I would practice more later on, but for now I just wanted to _stare_ at it, still not believing that I had my customary battle addition back. I hadn't expected this at all, having had the impression that natural Earth metals weren't strong enough for me. Leave it to someone like my mother to overcome that – I made a mental note to thank Gohan as well, the next time I saw him in person.  
  
“This is... I can't believe you did this! I thought I'd never be able to have anything like my old one. You're the best, Mom!” I blurted, sheathing the sword and wrapping my arms around her.  
  
“Anything to see that cute smile,” she said as she withdrew, pinching my cheek.  
  
“Mom, I'm too old for you to call me cute,” I said. In fact, due to the time spent training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, I was an adult now by human standards too.  
  
“You're never too old if it's true,” she teased, reaching up to mischievously tussle my short hair. “And who do you think gave you your good looks in the first place, huh?”  
  
“Mom, _seriously,_ ” I pleaded. “The shameless self-promotion of yours is enough. Don't you have some other child you can embarrassingly fawn over? I'm sure Bulla can handle my share, along with the copious amounts of attention she already gets.”  
  
“Oh, come on now. If you're going to be leaving soon, I need to make up for all the time I won't get to spend with you. Most teenage boys on Earth can't even hold a conversation with their mothers, so how lucky am I?”  
  
“Yes, well, I'm not exactly a regular human boy, Mom.” I wasn't a regular Saiyan either, even if I was their prince.  
  
“That you are not,” she agreed. “Although it wouldn't have been so bad if you were. There have been a lot of things in your life you could've done without.”  
  
“The same could probably be said for you, but I doubt you chose Father because you thought it would be easy.”  
  
She smiled wistfully. “Of course not. But I wouldn't really change anything – although if he thinks he's getting away with this stunt of his, he's got another thing coming. Try to knock some sense into that stubborn ass before you drag him back here, okay?”  
  
“Will do,” I said, smiling in return. “But I guess we should really finish up the ship first.”  
  
“Right,” she agreed. “Now, let's see if I can't give Gohan a call. I know he wanted to help us finish too, and one extra brain around never hurt.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carborite-alloy is a totally made-up material. I'm not an expert and I have no idea how alloys are named, so just roll with it.


	3. Chapter 3

  
Goten and I strode leisurely but not lazily, carrying stacks of supplies needed for our soon-to-be departure. It would just be the four of us going – us two, plus Goku and Gohan, the latter of which had insisted to come along despite recently getting married. Apparently, leaving your partner shortly after fulfilling a matrimonial contract wasn't something humans were supposed to do, but Videl and Gohan seemed to have reached a compromise over it. I didn't understand the fuss, but whatever misconceptions I had about Earth's relationship customs was just another item on my ever-growing list of confusions (despite any previous research I'd done about the planet).  
  
Regardless, I was anticipating going home, or at least going back into space after only training and exploring Earth for months. Once we finished loading supplies, we were good to go; my mother had helped fashion us a few sets of armour, similar to what we usually wore on Planet Vegeta but not without some design alterations. I also still had one of the gis Goku had given me – the only one I hadn't destroyed or worn out – in addition to the rest of the clothing that was still idealized for moving around in. We were equipped with everything we needed, just in case we weren't able to access such things back home.  
  
“Hey, anybody in there? You're zoning out again,” Goten said as he nudged me.  
  
“Huh? Did you ask me something?” I replied, coming back to the present.  
  
“I asked if you value my time and opinions as your friend, but it looks like you already answered that question,” he said in false affront, setting down the supplies in his arms. We'd arrived back at the garage-type laboratory that housed our completed spaceship, its rounded shape looming large ahead of us.  
  
“Contrary to popular belief, you're just full of passive-aggressive criticisms,” I said as I placed what I was carrying on the floor as well.  
  
“I do my best. Besides, if you didn't have me to take you down a notch every once in a while, your ego would be bigger than your power level.”  
  
“Maybe. But power levels are kind of bullshit. You should technically be half as strong as me, yet you can't seem to land a punch on me even fifty percent of the time.”  
  
My mother's voice interrupted our banter, echoing from her position around the other side of the spaceship.  
  
“Polite vocabulary only, Trunks. There's a child in here,” she reminded.  
  
“Trunks has a potty mouth,” Bulla's voice followed from the same area.  
  
“Yeah, gosh, Your Highness. Watch your language,” Goten teased at me as we made our way over to the craft. Having grown up surrounded by guards and soldiers for the most part, it was no wonder my habitual lexicon wasn't always the most child-friendly.   
  
“And I suppose our resident Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are getting along as usual?” Mom questioned with humour as we approached. “How are you doing with the supplies?”  
  
“Besides having to load them onto the ship, I think we have them all,” Goten replied.  
  
“That's good. I've given the ship one final look over and everything's in place. All our hard work paid off,” Mom said.  
  
“Finally. I'm looking forward to seeing home, even if it'll take us a few weeks to get there,” I added, gesturing towards the spacecraft.  
  
“Yep. I get to live on a spaceship in close quarters with my dad and my older brother for the next foreseeable weeks. Good thing Trunks is with me, 'cause otherwise I might die of boredom with only Gohan to torment,” Goten said.  
  
As he spoke, the sound of others entering the room reached my ears – my grandparents and Tarble, come to bid us goodbye. I surmised Goku would be bringing the others soon enough.  
  
“Are you _sure_ I can't go with you guys?” my younger sister interjected, recapturing my attention.  
  
“Sorry, Bulla,” I replied, kneeling down to her. “You can't. I need you here to take care of Mom and help protect the planet while we're gone. We'll be back before you know it – once I find Father, Goku can teleport us right back here. Besides, if you want, you can use Mom's communicator to talk to us.”  
  
“Okay,” she acquiesced, still sounding disappointed. Then, she reached to wrap her arms around me, bringing me into a tighter hug than one would expect for a child her size. I hugged her back until she let go, turning to look at Goten.  
  
“Your turn,” she instructed, and after his momentary surprise he copied my movements, kneeling to embrace Bulla.  
  
It wasn't long after that Goku arrived via Instant Transmission, bringing with him Gohan, Videl, and Chi-Chi (the latter two I assumed were here to say their farewells). While Goku moved to take the last few supplies onto the ship, Gohan and his wife approached us with my grandparents and uncle in tow.  
  
While my mother activated the technology that opened the roof of the lab, revealing the bright blue sky I still wasn't used to, I said my goodbyes to everyone else while Goten did the same. Gohan seemed loath to part ways with Videl, so as they spoke I turned my attentions to Mom, the only person I hadn't properly acknowledged yet.  
  
“Well... I guess this is goodbye for now,” I said, “though all this is thanks to you. I promise to bring Father back – I'm sure he's doing just fine.”  
  
“ _Pssht_. I'm not worried about your father being safe. He's tough as nails, but also ten times as stubborn – the day he gives in is the day hell freezes over. I'm more worried about you two scrapping all the time once you do find him,” she said, though I noticed a hint of forced joviality.  
  
I was sure that she missed his presence after so many months of him absent. For me, he had usually been around, even if I didn't spend as much time with him, but what I did or didn't feel in that regard wasn't the most important thing. I didn't know what would happen after I did get him back – what our family would do, after being reunited for the first time – or what that meant for my personal future. Though I had given it some thought these last few months, I was still unaware about what my father truly meant by 'making things right,' and I'd resolved to save my choices until it was time.  
  
“I'll try not to beat him up too badly, if that does happen,” I replied to her statement, to which my mother gave a small, real smile.  
  
“Oh, you,” she chastised gently. Then her tone shifted. “You'd better take care of yourself, you know. And yes, I know you're strong, all four of you are, but please...”  
  
“Don't worry. I _am_ strong – strong enough so nothing like _that_ will ever happen again. I promise that too.”  
  
It was Mom's turn to embrace me, the moment lasting long enough to convey both her troubles and her trust without speaking another word. I almost regretted that she couldn't come along for safety reasons, but then again, it offered me some peace of mind to know that she would be nowhere near any possible danger. The thought of losing her again wasn't something I could bear to even entertain.  
  
By the time she let go, Goten and his father were waiting by the ship's entrance for the two of us still saying our words of going away.  
  
I reached the entryway first, with Gohan not far behind me. However, we paused as Videl jogged over again, asking us to wait.  
  
Before her husband could ask her what she wanted, she reached up, plucked his glasses off and pulled him down to kiss him intensely right on the lips.  
  
After several long seconds of this and me looking at the ground, I made a sort of coughing sound into my fist to hopefully catch their attention. Even with a human mother and after spending time on Earth, I'd grown up in a society where little tenderness was openly displayed – so even the most innocent of intimate gestures tended to make me uncomfortable. That, and my natural demeanour was to be flustered around most aspects of such a topic anyway.  
  
The couple pulled apart, and Videl put her partner's glasses right back where they belonged before stepping away and allowing us to begin our departure.  
  
Shaking my head, I then went into the ship with Gohan behind me. He looked pretty embarrassed himself, but the hints of a smile on his face made me doubt he cared all that much about it.  
  
The doorway sealed behind us and we moved deeper into the spacecraft, heading for the control room as we heard the sounds of our transportation firing up.  
  
  
                                                                                                 - ~ -  
  
  
Our voyage thus far wasn't much different than it'd been the first time I was on a spacecraft. Of course, the main change was that instead of my reticent father as a companion, I had the often exuberant men of the Son family trapped in a small living area with me. Until we got close enough to Planet Vegeta for Goku to teleport (if needed at all), there wasn't really anything we could do about personal space. Even though the ship had been designed for a fair number of occupants, there were the occasional moments where it didn't feel like it. But most often the four of us got along without trouble.  
  
Since our opportunities to train were limited to gentle sparring and stretching only, we filled up much of our time with conversation, card games, and for some of us, reading – namely Gohan and myself.  
  
Though he didn't wear them constantly, the elder Son brother had remembered to bring along a few pairs of eyeglasses that were sturdy enough to not immediately get crushed by a casual touch. In my time on Earth I'd finally learned what the frames were for in a way that, though it satisfied my mild curiosity, also created a counterbalance of disappointment: according to Mom, in another year I would have no choice but to wear lenses of my own to read.  
  
My eyesight had apparently begun its slow deterioration before I'd ever set foot in the Time Chamber, largely unnoticed in its slow progression. Mom theorized the farsightedness was a natural result of hybrid genetics, but thankfully I didn't have the issue nearly as bad or early onset as Gohan. (As Goten showed no symptoms, we also wondered if the lack of dark pigment in my eyes – combined with being raised under a constant, powerful sun – might've amplified the problem.) Even so, unless the printing was particularly small, I didn't have trouble spending an hour or two with a book. Again, our activity options were limited so I was glad such a thing entertained me, in contrast with Goten and his father.  
  
“How can you not find that boring?” Goten complained as he peered over my shoulder.  
  
“It's better than having nothing to do until we get home, unless you can think of a better option,” I replied, not bothering to lift my eyes from the pages before me.  
  
“Ugh. I know we're over halfway there, but there's only so many push-ups I can do in a row until _they're_ boring too,” my friend said.  
  
“Goten, try to look at both the pros and cons of the situation,” Gohan interposed from where he sat across from me, with a much larger book. Goku had fallen asleep elsewhere, so it was currently just the three of us together.  
  
“Pros and cons?” the younger sibling groaned. “If you're about to say any variation of 'spending time with family' as a pro, I will hit you.”  
  
Gohan mouth quirked into a grin as he set his book aside. “Actually, I think after months of preparing on Earth, it's quite the opposite of that for some of us here.”  
  
“I guess that does have a bit of truth, if you're talking about the fact that my mom – and especially my grandmother – enjoy trying to smother me every chance they get,” I added with amusement.  
  
“Yeah, and you don't even have _my_ mom,” Goten said. “I mean, I thought she'd given up pestering Gohan about grandkids, but I think he rekindled her obsession by finally getting married. I almost feel sorry that my new sister-in-law couldn't come with us.”  
  
“Oh, Mom's not that bad. Besides, I doubt she'd make time in her day just to call Videl and bug her about whether or not we're having kids yet,” Gohan countered.  
  
Even though I already knew she was a lot different than my own mother, I still found Chi-Chi's values surprised me at times. I couldn't recall my parents ever really bringing up the topic of me having children – not even to ask if I'd want them in the future (regardless of what was expected of my station).  
  
“I guess so,” Goten conceded to his brother, “but on a related note, I'm still wondering why you wanted to come with us so badly. 'Course, you have, like, a robot arm now, but you only trained for a couple months and that was before Bulma made you the prosthetic. Plus -”  
  
Gohan lifted the aforesaid metal appendage in a gesture to make his brother pause. Then, the older half-blood lowered it into his lap, almost like he was inspecting the replacement limb for flaws.  
  
“Believe me when I say I have good reason to be here. Until I get my real one back, this arm is... like a reminder, I guess. I lost something close to me because I was indecisive – because I wasn't strong enough,” he said, eyes flicking to his brother. “For now, I'm sure you can accept that alone as an adequate reason.”  
  
I remained silent, and surprisingly, Goten did too. Although, perhaps the conversation had drifted too close to something I discovered he didn't want to talk about – his death. When it had been brought up before, he'd often give very simplistic or deflective answers, so I suspected he might've felt some level of shame over it. However, even if I could tell my friend was covering up his emotions, it didn't mean I could make him tell me what they were. Since I'd experienced my fair share of grief over his loss, I figured he didn't owe me an explanation unless he wanted to give it.  
  
However, I felt that once we were home, all the pieces would start coming back together again.   
  
We would be there soon, back under the red sky. And hopefully, Father – or at least some trace of him – would be there too.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“Something's wrong,” Goku said, expression pensive as his gaze slid back in my direction. However, it wasn't like he was really _seeing_ me, more like he was lost in thought.  
  
We would soon be coming within range of Planet Vegeta, judging by the coordinates displayed on the control panel of our ship. Or at least, what Goku had told me they were secondhand, as he'd merely been sent to wake me up.  
  
All the same, I hadn't been expecting his unusual tone or the words themselves.  
  
“Hm? What do you mean...?” I asked, sitting up so I could properly focus on the man.  
  
“I mean, can you sense that?” he said.  
  
My brain was still edged with the fog of sleep, but even so, I had no damn idea what he was on about. I couldn't sense anything _,_ with the exclusions of my travel companions of course.  
  
“Mm, no?” I replied, getting up anyway. Instead of responding back, Goku merely gestured for me to follow him out of my room. As quickly as I could, I slipped on a pair of boots before doing as bid and pursuing him.  
  
Our direction led us to the control room, where Gohan and Goten already were though the latter appeared to have just awoken as well. But shortly after entering I found myself squinting to shield my eyes.  
  
Sunlight was pouring in, casting long shadows that moved on the edges of the room. Our ship was angled such a way in space that the glow of Planet Vegeta's resident star was thrown on us, askew just enough to not directly hit our sensitive eyes. Still, I raised a hand over my face to lessen the glare, not appreciating the brightness after so recently waking up.  
  
“So... what's going on?” I asked. I cast a glance at Goten, who gave me a shrug that meant he didn't know what was up either.  
  
It was Gohan who answered my question after a moment. He was turned away from me and looking out into space.  
  
“Come see for yourself,” he said. His tone was unusual – calm, but restraining something behind it. Since I couldn't see his expression, I was unsure.  
  
I approached the window, Goten following alongside until we stood next to each other and gazed out.  
  
Dark space, decorated with distant points of light greeted us past the sun's brilliance. A cluster of titanic asteroids lingered here and there, on a slow drift through the emptiness. One momentarily obscured us in its looming shadow before continuing on its path of inertia.  
  
It was a nice picture, but I still didn't understand what Gohan and his father were looking at.  
  
“I don't understand,” I wondered out loud, “I don't see anything.”  
  
“I don't get it either. It's just a few asteroids. Can we not fly around them?” Goten asked. “It says here we – ...”  
  
I turned my attention onto Goten when he abruptly cut himself off. I was startled to find that, even under the sun's glare, I could tell he was becoming paler than normal.  
  
“Trunks,” he said, proceeding with his next words slowly. “There's nothing here. We should be able to see Planet Vegeta. Where is it?”  
  
I looked out the window, down at the coordinates on the panel, then back out into space.  
  
No planet. No moons. Nothing – almost.  
  
Another gargantuan chunk of rock passed into our field of vision. There were no asteroid belts so close to my home world.  
  
My answer to Goku's question earlier still held true. I couldn't sense anything, _anyone_ , beyond the confines of our spacecraft, until reaching the very distant sensation of the life teeming in the rest of the nearby galaxy.  
  
The constant, usually steady drum of my heart felt louder than normal. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out, thoughts staying pressed inside my throat and echoing in my mind with each beat of my blood.  
  
_It's gone. Planet Vegeta is gone.  
  
  
_                                                                                                       - ~ -  
  
  
I'd thought the life I knew had begun coming apart at the seams upon realizing my parents were keeping secrets from me. Then, I understood the cracks had always been there when the nature of those secrets was revealed.  
  
What I still hadn't anticipated was that things could continue to tear open beyond that – like a collateral ripple in fate.  
  
The aftermath before me was a few jagged chunks of rock , spiralling around in the emptiness of space where home should've been.  
  
I wondered when the universe had decided it enjoyed taking the things I cared about from me. The place that held my past. What should've been my future. All gone.   
  
It felt like a dull knife prodding at an old wound, beneath the rage simmering in my chest. Potentially, tens of thousands of people could've been on the planet before it was wiped out. I had no way of knowing yet when this disaster had occurred. Who had done it – would've had _cause_ to do it. _Frieza? But why?_   
  
Had Father incited something in the months I was away?  
  
I sat in contemplation, fighting down my baser emotions as I idly rolled Mom's capsule between my thumb and forefinger. Even though she had set the temperature of our ship to a Saiyan's comfort level, I felt chilled, the inner disturbance echoing in different ways with my companions. Goku sat quietly a short distance away, Gohan stood motionless across the room, and Goten slowly paced.  
  
“What're we gonna do?” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Who would've... When? Fuck. What do we do?”  
  
“We find who did this,” Gohan said.  
  
“And how do you suggest we go about that? How do we find survivors, if there are any? There's no way every Saiyan would be on Planet Vegeta at once...” Goten replied.  
  
I let out a breath through my nose, closing my eyes as I clenched the capsule in my fist, delicately enough not to break it.  
  
_Vegeta... Father... You'd better not have been on that planet when it was destroyed.  
  
_ I opened my eyes again when I sensed Goten standing in front of me. He wasn't facing or looking at me, but merely standing at my side.  
  
“What about the Dragon Balls?” he asked.  
  
“Well, yeah,” Goku answered, “we can bring back the people with them, but we can't bring back the planet at the same time. And they still can't be used for another eight months or so.” He then walked over to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.  
  
I looked up at him, and he gave a small half-smile. “Don't worry. We'll figure it out like always,” he assured.  
  
“Our choices may be limited,” Gohan began from across the room, “but there's a good chance we can use the -”  
  
A low beeping came from the control panel, interrupting the eldest half-blood before a stranger's voice followed. _  
_   
**“Unknown spacecraft – identify yourselves,”** the voice demanded.  
  
I stood up, all four of us staring towards the control panel where the sound had emitted from.  
  
“What now?” Goten muttered to himself before the stranger continued.  
  
**“I repeat: alien craft, identify yourselves or we will open fire. You are in restricted PTO territory.”  
  
** We all looked at each other, then out the window. There was no other ship in our line of sight yet, but that didn't necessarily mean they weren't there.  
  
Gohan, being the first person to snap out of his shock, quickly moved over to the panel and pausing before hitting a command and responding.

“This is one of the crew members speaking. We were unaware this area was restricted,” he said.  
  
**“Identify yourself and the affiliations of the rest of your crew,”** the stranger repeated. **“Only authorized Planet Trade ships are currently given access here. The design of your craft has no registry in our system.”**  
  
Gohan looked back at us. Goku offered only a shrug, at a loss for what our next move ought to be. Regardless of our own strength, if our ship were destroyed we still couldn't breathe in space. Our best bet was to get them in close quarters and overwhelm them, but our only way to do so would be by luring them in or Goku transporting us there. I was about to ask the man in question why he hadn't already done so, but reaching out I realized I couldn't sense our new acquaintances at all. Instant Transmission would be useless.  
  
Gohan pursed his lips before coming up with his next response. “We're merchants from, uh, Planet Krypton. Again, we didn't know we were trespassing. Let's just settle this like civilized people – you can come search our ship to see that we're telling the truth.”  
  
There was a moment of silence while whoever was on the other end of the transmission seemed to mull their options over. A pity for them that they had no real idea who they were trying to threaten.  
  
**“Maintain your position,”** they said at length. **“We'll be taking you aboard for questioning. Prepare to surrender any weapons you may carry – any other physical threats of violence will be met with force.”**  
  
I could tell Goten was holding back a retort by the way he pursed his lips, but kept himself from muttering anything under his breath as Gohan acknowledged the stranger's commands.  
  
After the connection was severed, the oldest half-blood turned to face us again.  
  
“None of us should make any sudden decisions until we're on their ship. We can take them down as soon as we aren't at risk of being exposed to outer space,” he said.  
  
“I wonder why I can't sense their energies. Maybe it has something to do with the ship they're using?” Goku added.  
  
“I don't know,” I said. I didn't know anything. I didn't understand any of this.  
  
We didn't have to wait much longer before the other ship came within range, using traction technology to draw our crafts together. Their ship was several times the size of ours – very much resembling the last one we'd found – and we were pulled inside, the air feeling tense as we waited for the right moment.  
  
A faint rumble echoed outside our ship as it was locked into place within the bowels of the other. Now, I was able to sense the group of life forms aboard, like we'd passed some sort of barrier. Some of them were drawing close to us, preparing to board while we waited near the door to our craft.  
  
When a muffled voice outside told us to open up, I moved forward and activated the doorway's release function. As it slid open, out of the corner of my eye I saw Goku put two fingers to his forehead before my attention was drawn back to what was in front of me.  
  
Through the narrow archway, several dozen armoured soldiers stood with hand-held weapons aimed in our direction.  
  
“No sudden movements. Step out with your hands where I can see them,” one of them said.  
  
One solid backhand was enough to cast him off to left, knocking aside another soldier or two on the way. The rest of them fumbled in their split second of confusion, and then began firing at me – or at least, the spot where I'd been.  
  
I leapt forward, spurning myself into action. Any stray blasts being fired that managed to hit me bounced off or fizzled out, so beneath my strength that the most any of them did was singe my clothes. I was being a little careless, not bothering to avoid the shots as carefully as I should've because I _knew_ they couldn't hurt me.  
  
Delivering a roundhouse kick to the head of the closest soldier, I spun as he went down and let loose a pair of ki beams, bowling over another group of opponents. In the back of my senses, I noticed that Goku had teleported himself and his oldest son elsewhere into the ship to make our job go faster, while Goten's energy was just behind me.  
  
I probably didn't need to be hitting the soldiers as hard as I was, but at the moment I didn't really care. They could tolerate a broken bone or two – my planet had been destroyed.  
  
As I was in my base form, there were a few of the soldiers that were able to take more than just a single hit. One large individual in particular managed to catch my swing in his palm, leaving me open so he could punch my jaw with his free hand.  
  
Unfortunately for him, I raised my energy just enough that when his strike impacted, I could hear the bones in his hand crack. As he cried out in pain his grip loosened, so I took ahold of his armoured chest plate and used it as leverage, smashing my forehead into his nose. He went down like a sack of rocks.  
  
An unexpected ki ball collided with my shoulder, disrupting my balance a little. I turned to meet eyes with the perpetrator, far behind him espying Goten across the room dealing with the other soldiers left in the room. However, the one in question was clearly focused on me, fear quite obvious in his expression.  
  
It wasn't necessary, but I powered up, feeling my ki heat vividly as I burst into Super Saiyan. All the scouters around the room still functioning exploded, and I could see Goten pause in surprise as he noticed my transformation.  
  
My opponent's face had gone from fear to terror. I could see him shaking from here, as he was one of the last PTO recruits standing in this wing of the craft.  
  
I felt my expression tighten. _Afraid, huh? How many young Saiyans were afraid as they were consumed in the flames of my burning planet? How many survivors, unaware of what happened, were returning home only to be slaughtered by people they thought were allies? What right do_ you _have to be fucking afraid?  
  
_ I raised my arm, aiming a single finger at my lone opponent. Summoning my ki, a glowing ball began forming at the end of my outstretched limb, becoming brighter as its energy density increased.  
  
The soldier threw his hands up and dropped to his knees. I approaching him at an even pace until the concentration of glowing power was less than a foot from his head.  
  
“Where's the captain?” I asked.  
  
“C – contro – control room,” he stuttered back. “Pl – please, I – I don't w – want to die!”  
  
I allowed the energy ball to dissipate, instead choosing to kick the soldier in the head solidly enough to knock him out.  
  
The room was now largely quiet, though a few distant sounds could be heard from the other end of the ship where Gohan and Goku were. Goten hovered uncertainly by the door leading onwards, waiting for me to follow.  
  
Before doing so I tugged at the capsule around my neck, clicking it free and activating it with a puff of cloud. Out emerged the dark blade that had become familiar to me, but that I hadn't had a proper chance to use yet. Slinging the scabbard over my shoulder, I withdrew the weapon with a satisfying ring. The weight was something familiar in a moment where I felt like I was surrounded by the unknown. But I had no doubts these people would have at least a few answers for me.  
  
  
                                                                                                     - ~ -  
  
  
By the time we met up with the other two, most of the soldiers had been taken care of. Since we'd worked our way in, our final destination was the token control room in which we located the captain. She was some sort of large, green-feathered bird creature, identifiable by her armour and the oddly high-pitched voice that was barking orders when we came in.  
  
Now, she lay battered on the floor, fixing her small eyes on me furiously.  
  
“Y – you'll pay for this! Allying yourself w – with Saiyans... you've signed your own death warrant!” she squawked, having deduced my companions' origins from their appearances.  
  
“You seem to misunderstand,” I replied. “I'm not just allied with them. I'm their prince – son of King Vegeta and heir to the throne. I don't give a fuck if you believe me or not, but know that a few hollow threats won't save you from a worse beating if you don't answer my questions.”  
  
I paused when her eyes widened.  
  
“Y – you can't b – be,” she stammered. “You can't – everyone thought – you're supposed to be dead!”  
  
I narrowed my eyes. _Dead?_ “Am I? You tell me.”  
  
“Y – y – I c – can't -” she tried, but when I raised the edge of my blade to her throat again her will seemed to break.  
  
“Fine, I'll t – tell you anything you wanna know! Just p – please, don't kill or eat me!” she squeaked.  
  
I'd heard tell of Saiyans who sometimes consumed the flesh of their opponents, whether to symbolically gain their strength or feed themselves when there wasn't another option. Though I would never deign to doing so, judging by her pleading to avoid such a fate the captain did believe my claim of being the Saiyan prince.  
  
“Start talking,” I commanded.  
  
“We – well,” she began haltingly, “the word is th – that there was an insurrectionist attack amongst the Saiyans... r – right on their home turf...”  
  
I supposed that this was referring to our clash with Broly, and while it was actually an act of revenge from he and his father, I knew full well that the truth of events could get twisted from word of mouth or otherwise.  
  
“D – during the battle, the royal family managed to t – take the enemy down with them,” the captain went on, “b – but the king's only son was said to have d – died in the pro – process... So did the queen... The king himself survived, but... when the dust settled and he realized what happened, he went m – mad with grief...! And then he... _he_ _declared war on Lord Frieza!_ ”  
  
“He... _What_?” I breathed out.  
  
“That's what I know, I swear! The S – Saiyan race is in chaos! They're rebelling, killing PTO soldiers, even killing each other! The Organization's a mess too because of it! Everyone's panicking, even Lord Frieza's seer has gone missing! B – but I don't know who destroyed your planet, I don't! I – it was probably Lord Frieza! W – we were just told to deal with any Saiyan stragglers who came this way! But th – that's not my fault, it's just orders! A – anyone found to be harbouring Saiyans will be killed alongside them anyway!”  
  
I could only stare at her numbly. The weight of her words settled into my mind, growing heavier with each second that I absorbed their meaning. My metaphorical cognitive gears felt locked into place.  
  
“If I thought things had gone to total shit before...” I heard Goten mutter over the captain's repeated begging for her life to be spared.  
  
I stepped away from the cowering bird creature, feeling lightheaded.  
  
For all anyone knew, Broly had crushed us into a bloody powder. They could also have thought that Vegeta, presumably resurfacing and being the only one of us to do so, was the one who defeated the Legendary Super Saiyan.  
  
All I'd left behind was a broken hilt and blood in the sand.  
  
But if all this happened while I was just training on Earth, with hardly a care, where was Father now? Had Frieza destroyed the planet with my father on it, or was he elsewhere gathering _war forces_?  
  
“Do you know where King Vegeta is now?” Goku asked the captain in my gap of silence.  
  
“N – no! Please believe me! But i – if he's the one who started all this, I doubt Lord Frieza has allowed him to live!” she squeaked back. “Not to mention Vegeta's reputation before... if _that_ Saiyan really is his son, he's a deadman walking too!”  
  
  
                                                                                                   - ~ -  
  
  
_Vegeta. What have you done?_  
  
My father – I didn't know what to call him anymore. The last time I'd seen him, I'd allowed my vulnerability to show through, wanting to try and repair the distance between us. But then he'd gone and left without me. There hadn't even been an explanation for it.  
  
And now, likely thousands of Saiyans were dead. How had it come to this?  
  
_'It is time to make things right. Until I do that, Trunks... forgive me.'_  
  
It had been a day or two since we'd apprehended the enemy craft and overwhelmed it, learning what information we could from the soldiers. Soldiers that had been stationed there to kill Saiyans nonetheless, but the Sons and I were far more merciful. Before we'd rounded them up and destroyed their artillery and navigation systems, we'd also learned that the PTO had developed technology that blocked ki energy with a barrier – the reason we hadn't sensed their approach, and (as Gohan theorized) the same type of technology Paragus had used to hide his base of operations. Neither scouters nor sensors could penetrate this barrier.  
  
We had also pilfered data from the enemy ship, to make our own navigation around the cosmos easier. That being said, we had no idea where to go. We didn't even have a fucking clue where to start looking, aside from a few PTO stations that would warrant the same treatment as the last ship (that was _if_ they even had any more useful information for us, lest we waste our time).  
  
Aside from a select few individuals who may have disagreed in private, the only other opponents to Frieza were – or had once been – the Galactic Patrol. But they'd become something of history's joke after the tyrant's armada bowled them over a long time ago. However, it wasn't just Frieza himself that presented a problem, it was the size of network he commanded. If anyone else was plotting back against him, they kept themselves low-key.  
  
That meant if the Saiyans were at war, both the PTO and everyone afraid of it would be against us. Though my family and the Sons were strong enough, in simple terms... everything was fucked.  
  
We assumed if we found my father, we'd find Saiyan survivors. It was the only goal we'd agreed on within the last day and a half of discussing our options. I had less enthusiasm than a gods-damned crust of stale bread at the moment, and a default broody scowl had worked its way onto my face even when Goten had been trying his best to cheer me up.  
  
Right now, though, I was alone. The others had all begun getting settled for bed, and despite our resting schedules naturally changing from what they'd been on Earth, we'd managed to keep our sleeping and rising times within an hour or two of each other. The calmly pulsing auras of my companions revealed that Gohan was the only other person still awake.  
  
Standing up, I rolled my shoulders to stretch when an unobtrusive, but insistent beeping reached my ears.  
  
I paused, trying to locate its source. The sound continued.  
  
As I walked towards the control room where it seemed to be coming from, I realized it was the communicator that Mom had given us. I quickened my pace a little to reach it before whoever was calling was kept waiting.  
  
Upon entering the room, I spotted the drawer where we had it stored, pulling open the compartment to retrieve the device. It was smaller than a scouter, though it could fit over one's ear for a private conversation or could be held in the hand like a speaker. Not wishing to make too much noise, I chose the former option as I fitted it on and clicked the necessary button.  
  
“Hello?” I asked gingerly.  
  
“Trunks! Is that you?” Mom's voice came through. In the background, I could hear other distant noise. It was probably daytime at Capsule Corp, or wherever else nearby she was.  
  
“Yeah, it's me.”  
  
“How are you? Is everything alright? I figured you'd be on Planet Vegeta by now, but you haven't called me.”  
  
My throat felt dry.  
  
“Hello?” she said again. “Are you still there? I know I built these to work over ridiculous distances...”  
  
“I'm still here,” I answered. “I... didn't call you because... we haven't found Father here. I'm sorry.”  
  
“Oh... Well, I can't say I expected him to be there, or you guys would've known with your energy sensing thing. But either way, you must be glad to be home! It's pretty sunny out here right now – I mean, I can actually tan safely under Earth's sun – but I know you missed all that hot weather from home. You definitely lost some of your colour over the winter here, but I know you'll be good as new in a week,” she joked.  
  
She sounded so happy.  
  
“Yeah,” I replied simply.  
  
She paused, letting the silence go on for a few long moments.  
  
“Honey, are you okay? Did something happen? You don't sound like yourself,” she said finally.  
  
“I'm fine. You – you just caught me when I was sleeping, that's all. I'm just a little out of it still. It's weird being back on Planet Vegeta,” I said, forcing a smile into my voice.  
  
“Did I wake you up? Sorry Trunks, I must've miscalculated the time difference a little. Where are you guys now? I guess you're at the palace. Is it repaired? How are the Saiyans functioning?”  
  
“Um... a lot of them aren't here anymore. I guess it's because of the confusion of Father's absence, but we're figuring it out. And yeah, we're in the palace and most of it's fixed. I'm actually in my room right now. It somehow didn't get destroyed – it looks just how I left it, although the door is still broken.” I let out a faint laugh at the end.  
  
“Really? That's great. Tomorrow you should take a look and see if my room's still intact. A lot of unfinished work is still in there, though I doubt the average Saiyan would even know what they were looking at. I also kept a lot of our old photos in there. I know I have some pictures of you as a newborn here, but it would be a shame if the rest of your childhood ones got destroyed.”  
  
“Oh...” I rested my face in my palm, concentrating on keeping my voice level. “Well, I'll make a point of checking for that stuff tomorrow.”  
  
“Thanks, I'd appreciate it. I guess I should probably let you get back to sleep now. Call me back tomorrow or something though, okay? I want to talk to Son and his boys and so does Chi-Chi.”  
  
“Alright. I'll call you back soon. Goodnight Mom.”  
  
“Goodnight, son. I love you and sleep well.”  
  
“I love you too. Goodnight.”  
  
I hit another button and the line disconnected.  
  
Pulling the device away from my ear, I let it rest gently in my palm at waist level. I briefly contemplated crushing it, but doing so – if Mom tried to call and we never answered – it would only worry her, the very thing I'd lied to avoid.  
  
At some point, I _was_ going to tell her. I didn't know how long the lie could be kept up anyway, but until I knew for sure whether Vegeta was alive or otherwise, Mom didn't deserve grief.  
  
An abrupt sensation of another's ki in the room made me whirl my head around, locking my gaze on the figure standing in the doorway.  
  
Gohan.  
  
He stood there silently, fixing me with a flat, unreadable look. It was one so alien to him that I felt my gut twist. I didn't know how long he'd been listening, but it didn't matter. It'd been long enough. _He heard me lie to Mom._  
  
He didn't appear blatantly angry – Gohan angry was both obvious and formidable to witness. But he clearly wasn't happy. My father's default emotion was anger, so despite that he could use it to terrify people, at least he was predictable in his rage. The Sons, on the other hand, were mostly peaceful creatures and difficult to perturb. But it was very clear when someone trespassed over their moral grounds.  
  
Like right now.  
  
“Trunks,” he said softly, breaking the dead quiet despite that he was almost whispering. His eyes softened a little. “I'm not your father and you're not a child, so I'm not going to tell you to call her back and explain the truth. But I want to know... why?”  
  
_**I don't want her to worry or feel grief. I will tell her, when I find out if my father's still alive,**_ I replied telepathically.  
  
_**Oh, Trunks... Eventually, she's going to find out what happened and suffer that grief anyway. But on top of that, she's also going to realize that you lied to her. The fact that she'll forgive you isn't the point,**_ he said.  
  
_**I know you care more about Mom than you ever did about Planet Vegeta or the Saiyans. In this way I can understand why you disagree with me. But I don't think you can tell me you've never lied to spare your loved ones.  
  
**_ His expression went harder again. _**That's cruel of you to say. I do care about our people. But I had to protect your mother from them before you were even born. Perhaps I seem disillusioned from that part of my heritage for a reason, but that doesn't mean I won't be helping you every step of the way. But if you recall, a certain man lied to you for many years because he thought that was best for you and Bulma.  
  
You knew about that lie too, and you never told me.  
  
**_ He sighed. “Alright, Trunks. Look... I understand things are tough right now. I think you're the one who's worrying the most out of all of us, and you have every right to be concerned. I'm not trying to demean you when I say this, but you're still so young – and a half-blood like me. Like Goten. Please remember that you have other people to lean on if you need.”  
  
I didn't reply, gazing idly at some spot on the floor.  
  
“We promised to help you find Vegeta, so that's what we're going to do,” he continued. “And we're going to get to the bottom of this big mess that sprung up while we were away. But for now, you should probably get some sleep, don't you think?”  
  
“I guess,” I said. I felt more emotionally tired than physically, but perhaps he was right about letting my mind rest so that I could consider the situation clearly. I hadn't slept well last night – I doubted any of us had – but we definitely wouldn't be getting anywhere without thinking rationally.  
  
“I'm sorry, Gohan. I guess I'm just starting to get strung out. You're right, I should get some sleep. I didn't mean to bother you from yours, either,” I acknowledged.  
  
“Like I said, it's alright. Now come on,” he gestured, “if we accidentally wake up Goten I'll never hear the end of it.”  
  
I trailed after the older half-blood as he left the room, slipping the communicator into my pocket.

 


	5. Chapter 5

  
When I awoke the next morning, I was greeted with a pulsing from my scar.  
  
I sat up, tugging the blankets away and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. Then, taking extra care, I stretched while paying special mind to rolling my right shoulder around to loosen the area. Occasionally, a dull ache from my scar would return, despite that it'd been two years of time since the injury and it was completely healed – not to mention by a senzu bean. For that reason it puzzled me a little, but the pain was infrequent enough to ignore so I never bothered to give it a lot of thought, assuming it had something to do with the nerve ends.  
  
For any warrior, a scar was a testament of strength. It let you remember what you were capable of surviving – physical proof of your triumphs in battle. In Goten's opinion, it meant you were badass and probably had a good story to tell.  
  
By the time I was dressed and cleaned up a bit, the others were already in various stages of breakfast. I joined them, eating my fill until I settled with coffee to finish, grateful that we'd brought it along even in powdered format. Once everyone had completed their main course, we remained grouped together in a circle on the floor of the lounge. We still hadn't agreed on our next move, the circumstances weighing on each of us.  
  
“So,” Gohan said, finally initiating real conversation. He'd foregone his glasses today, opting to suffer looking at us through his practically nonexistent close-range focus. (I shuddered to think if my own condition ever progressed so terribly. How did he fight normally like that?) “As much as I hate to put even more pressure on anyone, we really do have to make a decision about what we're doing next. Simple things first – eventually we're going to run out of food.”  
  
“Pray tell, how _are_ we going to get new supplies?” Goten added. “Plan A is clearly not an option anymore.”  
  
Our original intentions had been to restock at home. We didn't have enough packed for much more than a one way trip to Planet Vegeta, and Saiyans suffered the effects of not eating much faster than humans did. And whether we said it aloud or not, the four – now five – of us would eventually begin to feel cramped after so long aboard our ship. We simply didn't have the space or safety measures in place to do any intense training, either.  
  
“I guess that means we need to buy some from somewhere. The only one of us who would've been handy to Standard Credits was Trunks, but even if there's off-world accounts or whatever for the royal family's money, I doubt they're accessible anymore,” my friend continued.  
  
“A valid point,” I said. I'd never had to be concerned with wealth before, not when my mother's family was one of the richest on Earth and my father was a king. There was the possibility of my uncle knowing some way to access what credits we needed. But considering his exile years ago by his own father, it wasn't a certain alternative. However, Vegeta _had_ allowed Tarble to return, so perhaps it wasn't too long of a shot.  
  
“That's not all,” Gohan spoke up again. “Naturally, the closer we get to the heart of the empire, the closer together everything will be. When Vegeta arrived on Earth for the first time, due to his prior location it took him over a year to get there in an attack pod. Bulma designed our ship to move quickly, but even so, it could still potentially take months for us to be anywhere near the PTO capital, if that's where we're headed. And we have no choice but to make stops to resupply anyway. We could try to work out how to use Dad's Instant Transmission, but...”  
  
“If I don't recognize the ki, there's no telling where we could end up. It's also a lot harder to focus on it individually,” Goku said.  
  
I breathed out slowly, running a hand through my hair. Even if we landed on some nearby planet, what was to say the locals wouldn't attack us or refuse to cooperate because we were Saiyans? Any species with a good sense of smell would know for certain what Goku was, or even the rest of us. Using force was a route we could take, but not one we'd agreed on unless necessary. And though our ship didn't use fuel, it did need to be recharged at some point, and it couldn't be running while it did so.  
  
Abruptly, Goten stood up.  
  
“One second,” he requested, walking out of the room. The four of us left waited in quiet bewilderment until he returned a minute or two later, with a small bag in his hand.  
  
After returning to his seat, he began rifling through the satchel and emptying its contents onto the table. It took me a moment to place what the bright plastic objects were.  
  
“Is that... candy?” his brother asked. “Why do you have all that?”  
  
“We need something to lighten us up, and besides, when am I ever _not_ hungry enough to pack extra snacks? And you know I'm always a slut for chocolate,” Goten joked.  
  
“Just chocolate?” I muttered, recalling how flirty he'd been on Earth whenever some girl said so much as a single word to him.   
  
“Ladies and gentlemen, my best friend,” was the sighed response I got before he gently threw one of the packages at my forehead. “You get the dark chocolate for that little comment.”  
  
I grinned faintly; it was fun to tease him in return for how often he did it to me. And he already knew the cocoa he'd tossed at me was one of the only kinds I'd eat. (The rest I found either too sweet or didn't like the texture of.)  
  
“You like these ones, right Gohan?” Goten said, sorting out the confections.   
  
“This is really nice of you, Goten,” Goku piped up. “You even remembered all our favourite flavours!”  
  
“Yeah, it's really no biggie, but – um...” The half-blood trailed off when his father tugged him into a hug. “All I did was bring chocolate.”  
  
Despite his insistence that it didn't matter, Goten was clearly happy to be receiving attention from his dad. Every time he did, he'd light up a little bit. Still, Goten was a pretty selfless person overall, so he deserved the things that could make him happy.  
  
Back home – when it had still been there – Goten would come for a few months and then be gone away for several longer. After being on Earth, I'd always felt his energy in my peripheral senses, and seeing him had just been a matter of flying to his house or he to mine. And as I'd been new to the planet, he'd been determined to show me everything. I remembered how Goten had made a point of coming over with all sorts of food to get me to try. Or he'd bring films, or invite me to places in the city or the countryside and introduce me more fully to Earth's culture. Some things I'd already had an idea about, others were completely new to me.  
  
During our time training, he'd fallen asleep from exhaustion leaning on my shoulder more than once, determined for his strength not to be left behind ours. And of course, now he needed it – I'd wound up dragging him into my family's problems again. He'd already died for it once before.  
  
While I'd been lost in thought, the conversation had picked up again without me. I chose to listen to the different opinions bouncing around as I took a bite of my chocolate, savouring the rich flavour.  
  
“I mean, you could pass for someone who isn't a Saiyan. No offence,” Goku said to me. I blinked at him, trying to understand his statement without context.   
  
“What?” I said.   
  
“When we need to resupply. If we likely have to interact with people who hate the Saiyans right now, you'd be able to lie low thanks to Bulma's genes. And another benefit of being a hybrid– your scent isn't as certain of a give-away. Unless they already know what the Prince of Saiyans looks like, you could get by incognito. Even Goten and I are too risky due to our appearance,” Gohan elaborated.  
  
“Heh. Work those blue eyes and Briefs charm, and we'll get the shit we need for free,” Goten chortled.  
  
I cast him a weak glare for poking fun at me before adding my thoughts. “There's still the question of what to do even if we're able to restock without hassle. The ship will need to be recharged soon as well. But what are we going to do _after_?”  
  
“You mean the survivors,” Goku said. “Well, if Vegeta's alive, then there's bound to be at least some Saiyans with him. And him being the king and all, unless he's hiding from everyone else too there will be word going around.”  
  
 _If Vegeta's alive_. He'd stated it so casually, like the underlying inverse was the more probable scenario. Wasn't it, though? Even if my father hadn't been on the planet when it was blown up, with this supposed war going on and no contact from him in months, it became increasingly unlikely he was still alive, or at least not severely incapacitated. Frieza would have no doubt tried or succeeded in killing him.  
  
We did have the Dragon Balls, but we'd need them to bring back the planet – no, _just_ the people who'd died on it. That meant by the time they were ready to be used, I'd have to choose between reviving my father or reviving the extinguished Saiyans. But if it really came down to that and the second option was chosen, all those people would still have nowhere to go. And because of the time limit, my father would never be able to come back. Never.   
  
Not only would my mother be heartbroken, what Saiyans _had_ survived would be leaderless. Except their half-caste prince, who was starting to feel like the thing he'd been raised to do was bearing down on him too fast.  
  
“What about Frieza?” Goten said suddenly.   
  
“What do you mean?” I echoed.   
  
“The rest of us don't actually know much about him,” he replied hesitantly. “I mean, I'm sure if we'd known he was this big an issue, Dad probably would've been more insistent about handling it years ago.”  
  
“Vegeta told me some things, and I've gotten a little more from, y'know, reading his mind when I thought I needed to. And then he and Bulma and me had a talk when you got back from that trip you did, Trunks. But Frieza was never _around_ , really. I learned later that he threatened Vegeta, but I wasn't there at the time and he never came near the planet anyway. Not once in all these years. I'd have loved to see how strong he was – is – but I wouldn't know the first thing about finding him since I can't recognize his energy. Space is big,” Goku said.  
  
I didn't know why Frieza had left the Saiyans alone for so many years. Trying to dredge up the memory of my conversation with him, despite it being fogged a little, some things still stuck with me – Father and Frieza hadn't spoken in person since around the time I was born. Frieza hadn't known what I'd looked like. He'd also mentioned having a father of his own, in the present tense. And at least one sibling, whom I'd heard rumours of before. The PTO commander wasn't alone.  
  
“I think... maybe it wasn't just Frieza my father was worried about,” I said thoughtfully. “Even if he'd managed to kill him... I think Frieza has family elsewhere in the galaxy. Could be they're as strong as he is and Vegeta wouldn't be able to handle all of them. Think about it – whether to fill the power vacuum left if Frieza died or to seek revenge, that's at least two other people with their own empires coming after you.”  
  
“If a Super Saiyan isn't enough to defeat him, what if it's not enough to defeat his family members? We can't know for sure yet, but if that's true, it means... you're the only one who might have the power to win against them,” Gohan said to me.  
  
“Three against one isn't great odds,” Goten added, “but still, we're basing our theories on a whole lot of maybes. _We've_ gotten stronger over the years too. Even if Trunks somehow isn't strong enough alone, the four of us against one Frieza makes him no match. We can take them down one at a time. And we have Dragon Balls.”  
  
Gohan put a hand to his chin in thought before replying. “Yes – and that's not all. I think I know where we could get more.”  
  
We all turned to stare at him.  
  
“You see, Shenron is limited by the fact that you get a max of a single wish per year. If more than one of us were to die in separate events, we wouldn't all be able to return due to these constraints. But ever since I found out that Piccolo wasn't a demon but a Namekian, I was curious and began doing research over the years, both from delving into Planet Vegeta's archives and from what Kami could tell me. There's an old myth among spacefarers that tells of certain Namekians being able to grant wishes – they've all kept themselves concealed after some natural disaster befell them a long time ago. As they were thought extinct, their planet's location isn't common knowledge anymore. But besides that, the myth is referring to Dragon Balls, as I realized from piecing everything together,” he explained.  
  
“So... we need to find the Namekian planet?” Goku said.   
  
“Planet Namek, yes. Besides what I've read, I really have only Piccolo and Kami to go off of for how Namekians behave, but – well, I guess that's a special situation. Whatever the case, I'm sure we can convince the Namekians to allow us access to their Dragon Balls,” Gohan finished.   
  
“How are we going to find them in the first place?” I asked.   
  
“Well,” Gohan mused, “that's the thing. Years ago, when your mom was building her first spaceship, she was given the one Kami had arrived in from Namek. From what I remember, that meant it had already been sitting for a couple hundred years so she could only use some of its parts as a basis. It would've had Namek's location, but since Bulma disassembled it, the only ones to have the coordinates would be the PTO.”  
  
“Maybe. But let's say we do find Namek – shouldn't we wait until we at least find Vegeta before making a wish? Even when our Dragon Balls are working again, that will still only be two wishes and they need to count. If anything worse happens in the meantime, we ought to save it,” Goten said.   
  
“Earth's Dragon Balls still won't be regenerated for several months. As of now, no wishes are possible. While we could save using the Namekian Dragon Balls, it wouldn't hurt us to locate them beforehand. Although, that means we'd have to be careful about keeping their importance a secret. One wish is enough in the wrong hands – we really don't need any more sociopaths with access to immortality.”  
  
“Are you talking about King Piccolo or Vegeta? 'Cause neither of them actually got immortality,” Goku wondered aloud, “and Vegeta's not as bad anymore.”  
  
“What do you mean 'not _as_ bad'?” I blurted. And who the hell was King Piccolo, as opposed to the regular one? It sounded dimly familiar; something from stories Mom used to tell. But I was more concerned about my father's history than old bedtime narratives.  
  
“Well, when we first met he tried to kill me, and obviously that didn't work, so then he tried to kill me again and _that_ didn't work, except by the time he couldn't try anymore we realized his spaceship was broken. We sorta tricked him into thinking we 'used up' the Dragon Balls to bring me back to life, but that still left the problem of him being stuck on Earth, so...” he trailed off.   
  
I'd never heard this story in full, only bits and pieces. Even the current short recount was more detailed than the version I'd been given. “Then what?”  
  
“Uh, then Bulma had to build him a spaceship. It's complicated.”  
  
“She built him a spaceship... after he tried to kill you,” I attempted to clarify. “Several times.”  
  
“Yeah. We couldn't just keep him on Earth, and we kinda... worked out an agreement that if we built him a ship, he'd leave Earth be. 'Course, Bulma was the only person aside from her dad who could try to make such a thing, so she started to, but Vegeta got impatient to leave before the ship was perfected. So he wanted to take Bulma in case any technical things went wrong 'cause she was the engineer. Bulma said no, I said I'd go with her for protection, we all argued a lot and then we all went. Then Gohan snuck on board because he didn't want to leave me. We were all a little bit crazy.”  
  
“We're still all crazy,” Gohan chuckled.   
  
Goku nodded, grinning. “Heh. After we left, we were gonna just drop Vegeta off on his planet, but yeah, things got interrupted when we crashed way before reaching it. It was a bad plan and just got worse from there, but then two bounty hunters started going after us. Our group kept getting separated – oh, it's a _really_ long story. But right after Bulma got back to Earth, she figured out she was pregnant, and that was that.”  
  
“I... I'm starting to think you guys are a little more than just crazy,” I said after a pause. I knew that both my parents could be reckless, yet I was really beginning to doubt the 'unflappable genius' image Mom put forth. Her younger days made her sound more like a full-blown mad scientist. One with a questionable preference for unstable alien royalty at that.  
  
“Pfft. With these people as our parents, _we_ didn't stand a chance,” Goten said, shifting in place as he tried not to laugh at the expression I was making.  
  
“Well, everyone thought it was crazy that Bulma went back to Vegeta after you were born,” Gohan said to me. “We all thought it was a lost cause, yet.... When one of the bounty hunters came back for revenge, she took you as a hostage. Unfortunately, it caused your guardian soldier to die trying to protect you, but Vegeta managed to follow the hunter and save your life.”  
  
“... I don't think I've heard that story,” I said, “and I have no memory of anything like that happening.”  
  
“You were still quite young. Of course, that was also around the same time Frieza realized you existed. I think Vegeta believed that with his people behind him, he could finally escape Frieza's grip – or at least establish himself as an equal. I wasn't there, so I can't give details, but... it's obvious that Vegeta failed... and was forced to make certain promises as a consequence,” Gohan said.   
  
It was obvious which promise he was referring to, the one I hadn't known about until Frieza practically had to spell it out to make Vegeta reveal it.  
  
I shook my head almost imperceptibly. I'd come all this way for my mother's sake, and my sister's. If I started doing this for me, my own frustrations would get us nowhere.   
  
  
                                                                                                     - ~ -   
  
  
I felt the weight of Mom's communicator in my pocket, knowing she was expecting me to call at some point. Naturally, I was putting it off – thanks to the lie I'd concocted, and hadn't told anyone about but Gohan, she would discover the truth if she asked to speak to Goten or his dad. And if his dad got suspicious about anything, he could simply read my thoughts without my knowledge and tell Mom the truth anyway.  
  
However, right now, I chose to set that aside for longer yet. There was someone else I was desperate to talk to, but the last thing he'd said of consequence was that he wanted to set things right. _Set things right by leaving me behind, when it's obvious now that he would've needed my strength more than ever._  
  
I didn't know if there was some sort of distance limit for how telepathy worked. Every so often I'd set a few minutes aside where I could concentrate, though the only thing I'd gotten in return was the feeling I was talking to myself. Even if it wasn't working, it was almost like meditation in the way it could relax me.   
  
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, I stared out at the view into space. It was mostly darkness, with little pinpoints of light, like holes poked into a black fabric. Because of the great distance, it was probable that some of the stars I saw weren't there anymore; only their beams of energy left casting through space until they hit the edge of the universe. If there was such a thing.   
  
Collectively, our group had decided to make for the nearest trade port or station of size. A crowd meant we'd be less conspicuous, even if we assumed my appearance would go unnoticed by those seeking Saiyans. We'd also get more substantial information, as if groups of Saiyans were banding together there would certainly be PTO armies looking for them. The idea was that I could pass as an ordinary soldier to infiltrate, and be led right where I needed to go. Goku's Instant Transmission and the size of my energy meant he'd be able to locate me, as long as we weren't on opposite sides of a ki shield.  
  
Our only current flaw in the plan was the credits we'd need, but for that, I was going to talk to Tarble. If there was nothing he could do, we'd have to steal the supplies, which would make things a bit trickier. I was confident now, though, that my uncle would have credits for us to borrow.  
  
I wiped my mind of clutter, allowing myself to relax.  
  
 _ **I don't think you can hear me,**_ I sent out.   
  
Naturally, there was no response.  
  
 _ **Maybe you're just too far away. Maybe you really don't know this technique. Or maybe you just don't want to talk to me.  
  
**_ The stars stared back, sombre.  
  
 _ **Are you even still alive? If you are, we're coming to drag you back. But you've left a fucking mess this time. I might even have to kill Frieza for you.  
  
**_ I closed my eyes. _**  
**_  
__**Maybe I am better off without you.**

 


	6. Chapter 6

  
I fitted the stolen armour over my chest, noting that it was slightly too tight, not being one of the types that expanded to adjust to its wearer's form. It would have to do – the armour Mom had made would stand out too much for what we were attempting.  
  
“I really hope these guys weren't important, or the others will notice,” Goku said as he stepped back in from dealing with the last unconscious soldier.  
  
It was just he and I present. In order to remain stealthy, the other three members of our group had stayed aboard our ship. We were at a trade port, the nearest one we could find, and had ambushed the first PTO soldiers we'd come across. After investigating their scouters to get an idea of their occupations within the organization and where they were going, I'd chosen to impersonate the one who'd suit our purposes best. This was the moment where we'd be parting ways for a while, as I went forward with our plan: infiltrating the PTO to find Saiyan survivors, as quietly as possible until we agreed it was fine to show ourselves. While one of the Sons alone might avoid suspicion, a group of dark-haired and muscular humanoids – tails or not – were too coincidentally like Saiyans.  
  
Gohan and I had already contacted Earth, and he'd been kind enough not to reveal my lie to Mom. However, we'd had to disclose some of the truth to Tarble to explain our reasoning for what we'd asked him. He'd been very generous with giving us access codes to the credits we needed, also revealing (to my surprise) that my father had in fact stored money off-world as well. Specifically, it had been for me, set up years ago so that if or when Frieza took me into his service, I wouldn't be left starting with absolutely nothing in a hostile environment. A similar security had been left for my sister, thus Tarble had been entrusted with knowledge of both.  
  
According to him, since my father had been slowly adding credits to the stockpile since I was very young, it was at least enough to buy a small planet. And as the account also couldn't be traced directly to us, it would still be active even in our current situation. Yet this had brought another concern to light: Gure, my uncle's wife, could be in danger.  
  
Most people who knew of the Saiyans were aware that Tarble had been banished. Eventually he'd wound up on Tech-Tech, Gure's home world, and his presence there was also known to some people. Though my uncle and his wife had moved to a different planet after adopting Bulla, Gure still went there to visit her family. The loose thread of loyalty between the Saiyans and her people meant the PTO could now be targeting them too. The Sons would going to Tech-Tech to ensure Gure and the rest of her race were safe, while I went another way.  
  
The soldier I was impersonating was named Lucuma, and he was currently on his way to a larger station for deployment. Despite having to work with an organization that was now my enemy, I was going to find out who had destroyed my planet in the process. If it was indeed Frieza, then I would kill him and whatever family of his that tried to stop me.  
  
I didn't doubt that somewhere along the way, I'd find out what had become of my father.  
  
“You're sure you're up for this?” Goku asked one last time.  
  
“Yes,” I replied. “Don't forget than Gohan and I can contact each other. We're only an Instant Transmission away, so even if you lose sight of my energy there's still a way for me to tell you where I am. It should only be a couple of weeks for me to reach the station.”  
  
“It shouldn't take us too much longer than that to get to Tech-Tech, but who knows. I'm not good with that kinda thing,” he said. He then put his fingers to his forehead, pausing to look at me again. “Good luck, Trunks. I wish I could go with you, but I guess I'll have to wait to learn more about Frieza. I hope everything's not as bad as it seems.”  
  
“I hope so too. Good luck.”  
  
He smiled at me, and then he was gone.  
  
I was alone at the trade port, inside a stolen PTO ship that I wasn't sure I knew how to pilot properly.  
  
The spacecraft was the smallest I'd seen yet, other than an attack pod, with only a few rooms. Though once I reached the cockpit, I realized that I wouldn't have as much trouble steering as I'd thought – the coordinates to the station were already set up, so the ship would effectively be driving itself.  
  
I settled into the seat, firing up the vehicle. There was no need for me to wait around any longer; and besides, I was eager to get moving and pursue information. I just had to stick out being sequestered in a little spacecraft alone for a couple weeks.  
  
  
                                                                                                       - ~ -  
  
  
I spent the journey all but undisturbed by anything or anyone outside my ship, feeling much like I was in some sort of metal cocoon. I'd spoken to Gohan only once, just to check in, but nothing else happened of note until a beeping noise alerted me that I'd reached the station.  
  
It'd woken me from sleep, but like before, it had sounded ahead of time so that I could prepare. Despite my grogginess I felt relieved, having spent my days restricted to eating, sleeping, and what training I could manage in the space I had. True, I'd spent two months alone training before, but long-term isolation wasn't something I enjoyed at the best of times.  
  
Readying myself, I moved to the control room, gently toying with the capsule resting below the hollow of my throat in what had become a habit. I doubted the accessory would be noticed by any soldiers; I was thankful for its inconspicuousness because I needed the weapon, but didn't want to carry it openly as it could be used to identify me. (I wondered, briefly, if my old swordmaster was alive. I hadn't spared much time to think about him, or any other individual Saiyans I'd known growing up.) I still didn't think I'd be recognized as the Prince of Saiyans by anyone, but it wouldn't hurt to be careful.  
  
Although, I _was_ supposed to be dead.  
  
Refocusing my attention, I was treated to the sight of the station out the window as its traction system began to set in. This facility was, somehow, larger than the one I'd been to with my father, and was orbiting a sun instead of a planet. But the view of said star was almost completely blocked by the imposing mass of the station.  
  
As I drew closer and closer, I was suddenly thrust into a brief second where my 'sixth sense' – my ability to sense ki – vanished. Then, as quickly as it'd disappeared, it was back, and I was able to feel the gigantic horde of people aboard the craft ahead of me.  
  
Remembering that I wanted to maintain a low profile, I made a note to keep my own energy lowered to what I thought was a moderate enough level so that I wouldn't alert anyone's scouter. Or other potential ki detectors, though I wasn't likely to meet any.  
  
It was then that I sensed it.  
  
There. Among the hive of life forms. _It can't be._  
  
For a split second, I thought it was _him:_ Frieza.  
  
Adrenaline quickly swept through my body. I clenched my hands on the dashboard, my mind racing though I was frozen in place. _How could he possibly be here? What are the chances?_  
  
But no. It couldn't be him. This energy – it was...  
  
It was more powerful than Frieza's.  
  
Granted, I'd only gauged his ki when he'd been at rest, but this person wasn't at full strength now either. And though I wasn't as sensitive with this technique as Goku, the aura I could feel ahead of me didn't seem so heavy. Indeed, it was a blight compared to the surrounding population, but wasn't as completely aphotic as Frieza's.  
  
I quelled my own energy once more, which had risen by instinct. Just in time, too, as my ship was settling into the station and I would soon have to get moving and report in as 'Lucuma.' If I acted suspicious, someone could try to verify my identity more thoroughly and that wouldn't go over well.  
  
Minutes later, I found myself again in the vast space of a docking bay, surrounded by everything from tiny attack pods to gigantic, colourful aliens stalking by. The sudden mix of sounds and smells – and the mass of ki I was now inside – daunted me a little, but I began walking, the tap of my boots on the metal floor lost amidst the din.  
  
Last time I'd been to such a place, I'd strode alongside my father, sporting the royal insignia for everyone to see. Now that I lacked any such marker of importance, I was all but ignored by the many beings going by.  
  
Then again, even if I had still been acting as a prince, Saiyans were just one of many species. Our royalty had only been more respected than another race's because of Frieza, and perhaps Vegeta's past association as one of his officers. But that didn't matter now. The Ice Demons wanted us dead.  
  
I wondered if the new energy I'd sensed could possibly be someone in Frieza's family.  
  
Though I knew where I had to report in order to keep my cover, my own impulsiveness kept me moving in a different direction – towards the energy. Towards what I hoped would be another Ice Demon.  
  
Towards someone complicit in the destruction of my planet.  
  
I moved like I knew exactly what I was doing, hoping inwardly that my target wouldn't be somewhere I couldn't access without breaking in, as much as I would have loved to tear the station apart and give the PTO their due. Thankfully, the owner of the ki wasn't all the way on the other side of the place, and they seemed to be on the same floor.  
  
The crowds of soldiers began to lessen a little as I got closer, and most of them were going in the opposite direction of me. The presence of the unknown ki was growing with each step I took, dwarfing most of the others around it.  
  
Suddenly, something large and foul-scented was blocking my path.  
  
“You,” its thick and hissing voice interrupted. “Wheeeere do you think you're going?”  
  
I looked up at it. Beyond the armour it wore, the being was hairless and slimy, looking a lot like one of Earth's sea creatures – complete with tentacles and organic suction cups on the underside. It also had several pairs of eyes, all of which were fixed on me, above an equally tentacled mouth from where its gargled speech erupted.  
  
“None of your business,” I managed to retort, not sure what else to say. I tried to keep walking, but the creature moved back in front of me closer than before. I took a discreet step back to avoid the worst of its marshy odour.  
  
“I've never ssseeen you before... You mussst be neeew fodder. But you'reee going the wrong direction, sssoldier... Bottom feeeedersss mussst report to Sssection Nine,” it said.  
  
_You're the one who looks like a bottom feeder here. Get the fuck out of the way!_ “I know that. But I have business to attend to,” I replied curtly, but in as polite a tone as I could manage so as not to perturb the thing.  
  
“Businesssss, hm? Me thinksss a little creature like you doesss what I tell it.” The being shifted closer again.  
  
“ _I_ think you should really get out of my way,” I hissed, prepared to just keep going until I heard it take a deep breath.  
  
“You sssmeeell like... mammal,” it gurgled then, now within a foot or two of space. My heart started to beat a little faster. “A mammal that huntsss... huntsss by moonlight with hot blood. Deliciousss mammal flesssh, where have I sssmelled that before?”  
  
There was no way this thing would recognize my smell as Saiyan. Unless this creature had an extraordinarily good nose, there was no way –  
  
“ _Ssssss_ ,” it sounded, its eyes widening. “I know it. From sssomewhere... Yesss, from -”  
  
The thing abruptly cut itself off. At the same time, a quiet but insistent beeping could be heard through the now silent corridor, and I realize with an icy jolt that the ki I'd been seeking was _right here, right now_.  
  
“What are you fools doing? Get out of the way!” a small voice quavered from behind me.  
  
The tentacled creature I'd been confronting was already moving back, though I ignored it now along with the fourth new presence, turning to face the person I'd been after.  
  
I had to look up, and when I did, an eerily familiar shade of crimson met my gaze in return.  
  
Saurian features stared back at me, piercing eyes contrasted with violet skin and paler markings descending down the cheekbones. He tilted his head in my direction, the dark navy bio-gem on his head catching the light between the frame of his horns and the bone-like apparatus encasing his skull. He was enormous – I stood lower than his chest, feeling spatially overwhelmed even though he was several feet away.  
  
“What's this?” the being enquired, deep voice resonating. His powerful tail swished audibly through the air behind him. “Have you something to say to me?”  
  
I clenched my fists, holding my ground, heart beating in my ears.  
  
“Who are you?”  
  
Laughter echoed through the hallway while I stood in surprise, trying to make sense of the man's reaction.  
  
“Judging by the fact that you're still standing there, it's obvious that you really _don't_ know who I am, child,” he said finally. “Then again, there are many who have still heard only whispers.”  
  
_Child?_ I let the term slide, about to repeat my question when the same attendant who'd told me to move seconds ago was yapping again. He, or she, was a tiny alien creature of some sort, covered in dull red and yellow spots, her large eyes fixed on me behind a scouter and two large fins where her ears ought to have been.  
  
“You outworld mongrel! How dare you speak to our lord so candidly! Get out of the way and perhaps you'll get _half_ the beating you deserve!” she shrieked.  
  
“Now now, Goda,” the man said, “clearly he means no harm. A new recruit, no doubt.” He then turned to look at me again. “What is your name, soldier?”  
  
“Lucuma,” I replied, thankfully remembering the name I was supposed to use.  
  
“Well then, Lucuma, since you have not yet had the honour...” The man swept a hand out beside him as he dipped into a shallow bow, impressive bulk taking up a large amount of space in the corridor. “I am Lord Cold, king of the galaxy and the unknown universe beyond. Welcome to the Organization.”  
  
I frowned, trying to analyze the man before me. I knew that the PTO had started a long time ago, founded by space pirates who'd simply become too powerful and too wealthy for anyone to stop. Presumably, these predecessors were also Frieza's ancestors – or maybe it had happened in a single generation of his species, and I was looking at the very person that had started it all.  
  
It was then that I remembered something Frieza himself had told me.  
  
_'My father is also a king, I followed in his footsteps. That makes me a prince as well, though of course, I'm of a vastly different sort than you.'_  
  
“You're Frieza's father, aren't you?” I blurted as I took a step closer. His composed tone, tinted with an edge of hauteur, reminded me of how Frieza spoke (though lacking any of the PTO leader's feminine mien). Though oddly enough their facial features didn't look alike, besides colouring. Without a doubt, Cold really was part of Frieza's 'family,' as twisted as the concept of family seemed held up against the likes of him.  
  
“You are a brash one, I see. You've caught me in a good mood, so I'll humour your intrepid curiosity – indeed, Frieza is my son. However, if you think you can further yourself by trying to impress me you're sorely mistaken. He manages his own affairs, and you're not the first soldier to walk in here so brazenly. I suggest you run along now before I change my mind about letting you off easy.”  
  
“I was told to come here if I wanted to kill Saiyans,” I said, testing my luck. This King, as he called himself – his ki was definitely not greater than my own. I doubted that even with whatever potential strength he had he could defeat me. “I mean no disrespect, _Your Highness_ , but speaking to you is my best chance to use all this brashness of mine to get to them.”  
  
Cold laughed again. “My, my! You don't even flinch, do you? I'll tell you what – you want to kill Saiyans? Some sort of vendetta against their race?”  
  
“You could say that.”  
  
“Then perhaps I _can_ give you what you wish for,” he replied, a smirk creeping onto his features. “Goda here can take you where you need to go.”  
  
“M – me?” the formerly silent attendant squeaked, the fins on her head opening in surprise. “But My Lord, I – I mean, very well. Yes, of course. Right this way.”  
  
After a bow to her master, Goda strutted past him with curt steps of her short legs, shooting me a glare when I didn't immediately follow.  
  
I looked once more at King Cold. _Maybe he wasn't involved with the planet being destroyed. Maybe, if it's Frieza running the PTO, that he's the only one to blame here. But why_ is _Cold here, then? He could still be dangerous...  
  
_ Making up my mind, I swallowed my pride a bit and bowed. “Thank you, Your Highness,” I said, feeling a bit odd to be on the giving end of such a title. “Please excuse my rudeness.”  
  
Confident but measured steps led me past the man as I trailed after Goda, meeting Cold's eyes one last time as I went by. I was reminded of how, seemingly forever ago, I'd struggled to hold the gaze of his son.  
  
The alien neither moved nor spoke. I kept myself attuned to his presence until, after rounding several corners, we were well out of earshot.  
  
“Listen here, you little shit,” Goda began suddenly, stopping and whirling around to face me.  
  
We'd come a short way through the spacecraft, passing still more people that for the most part ignored me, but several had acknowledged my companion. It had only been a few minutes since my conversation with King Cold, but clearly the alien leading me was still seething about it.  
  
Fins flaring out again, she took an angered breath. “I don't care if you're the emperor of whatever mud pit you came from or the lowest slave. I was _just_ promoted to lieutenant-captain and if you had half a brain under that flowery fur of yours, you wouldn't dare humiliate me again. If you weren't already leaping to put yourself under the axe, I would make your life very difficult.”  
  
I said nothing. She wasn't particularly intimidating, nor did she have a large ki, so I took the comments in stride.  
  
“Nothing to say, huh? You wouldn't, with a power level of... what, five hundred tops? If I were you, I _would_ keep my damned mouth shut from now on, unless you're lucky enough for one of those apish Saiyan brutes to kill you and spare the rest of us the trouble,” she hissed.  
  
“Is everyone here this charming or am I just lucky?” I retorted against my better judgment. (Clearly, Goten had rubbed off on me over the years.)  
  
The alien's features twisted for a moment.  
  
“Lucuma, was it? This way, please,” she abruptly said, turning back to continue forward.  
  
Frowning a little at her change, I pursued.  
  
After no small number of more corners, doorways, and strides, Goda finally halted again before a large, combined pair of metal bulkheads.  
  
When she made no motion to open them, I moved forward to do it myself, mentally preparing to face whatever was on the other side.  
  
Burning spray in my eyes and nose smacked me in a literal blow before I could take another step. My hands were instantly over my face, trying to both protect it and wipe away whatever godsforsaken substance had just been launched on me as I stumbled into the bulkheads, blind as an idiot who'd let his guard down.  
  
“I guess you are just lucky,” Goda's voice drifted over my own surprised shouts of pain. The organic toxin, or whatever the hell it was, seared right through my acute senses, even to the point where I could taste it.  
  
I couldn't see, couldn't smell anything but the poison, couldn't concentrate. I really was a fucking idiot. How often had it been drilled into me not to underestimate my opponent, especially when it came to physical advantages?  
  
The doors gave way and I hit the floor back first until a boot struck my ribs, which in my disoriented state was enough to roll me the rest of the way into the threshold. I could hear voices, movement, feel auras, but could pick nothing out individually.  
  
“Soldiers! Listen up!” Goda's voice carried over the room, despite her small size. “There's been a change of plans! It looks like we have more of you bottom feeder shits than we know what to do with. There's no sense in wasting resources on weaklings, so here is my proposal for you: in ten minutes, if any more than the seven strongest of you are left standing in here, you'll _all_ be thrown out the airlock! The winners will be chosen for an elite-level assignment and paid handsomely upon their success!”  
  
The room was dead quiet.  
  
“Ten minutes!” Goda repeated before the distinctive sound of the bulkheads locking shut graced my ears.  
  
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath as pulled myself up against the wall, managing to open my eyes to a blurry vision of the floor as the first cries of violence began.  
  
Considering my entrance must have gathered some attention, I wasn't surprised to hear a heavy set of footsteps already charging my way – probably someone looking to pick off the injured first.  
  
I propped my back against the wall, trying to shake away the fact that the room seemed to be spinning. The burning had subsided, but I now found myself unable to keep my balance or focus on the opponent barrelling at me from only a few feet of distance now, arm cocked back and ready to strike.  
  
Thinking as quickly as I could, I let my weight drop and then thrust it forward with my elbow into the enemy's solar plexus at the moment of their impact, hearing and feeling their bones crack in several places. But thanks to my condition, I'd been sloppy and when they fell backwards I fell with them.  
  
I couldn't get myself to my feet. My attacker was raining down fists on my upper body, trying to throw me off even though I hadn't retaliated yet. The blows were actually more annoying than painful, so I managed to roll sideways to my knees, intending to fire off a ki blast large enough to incapacitate the opponent – but instead the energy ball expanded bigger than it should have and exploded in several directions, knocking me right back over along with a few people nearby.  
  
Gritting my teeth in frustration, I succeeded in getting on all fours and staying there. My concentration kept slipping and my energy wouldn't remain stable, fluctuating up one moment and down the next. Even in my base form, I was far stronger than anyone here, meaning I probably wouldn't die but I could still get hurt like this. A bigger issue was me accidentally killing someone trying to defend myself.  
  
I didn't have the wherewithal to stop the chaos or the killing going on around me. Could hardly distinguish what was what, colours and shapes mixing together and sounds either numbed or piercing. I hoped the toxin would pass through my system quickly enough for me to do something.  
  
A gangly figure tripped over me with a shriek of fear. Someone else in pursuit stood before me, probably intending to vaporize both me and the fallen idiot, so with what I could muster I darted up, grabbing the opponent's torso as leverage to smash my head into their jaw. Once again I felt bone shatter but to make sure they were knocked out, I cuffed them sloppily in the temple and we both dropped to the ground in opposite directions. I landed back on the person who'd tripped over me, which was a better cushion than the floor but I heard the air leave their lungs with the impact.  
  
“You saved me,” they wheezed out. I rotated, trying to get a fix on their face – or whatever served as one.  
  
Round, bug-like eyes and feathered antennae was all I could get. Its skin pigment fluctuated between green and blue, or maybe that was the poison. Couldn't be sure.  
  
The thing suddenly kneed me in the chest, knocking me to the side just in time to avoid a stray blast of energy. It was shrieking again.  
  
“You're hurting my ears,” I mumbled stupidly, trying to come up with a plan. Gods, I felt so fucking sluggish. Trying to raise my battle power, let alone become a Super Saiyan, seemed impossible right now.  
  
The thing was scrambling to its feet, presumably to run away when it suddenly scooped me up with it, the movement almost fast enough to make me nauseous.  
  
“There's more, there's more! Do something!” the insect cried, supporting me with my back against it and one arm around my chest. There were several soldiers running at us from the blur of chaos beyond.  
  
“Shut up and don't let me fall!” I demanded back. I didn't mind so much being used as a shield, as long as it kept me standing.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

  
Holding my arms out I began mustering energy to them again, firing a barrage in all directions, some of them blowing up dangerously close which caused the insect to jerk us both backwards.  
  
“Quit dragging me around!” I barked as more enemies came at us from the smoke.   
  
“I'm just trying to – _ghack_!” The bug's complaint was abruptly cut off when I partially spun my weight forward to roundhouse kick the first opponent in the head, breaking from my companion's grip to complete the turn and follow up with a reverse kick from my other leg. Using the same momentum, I grabbed the next enemy by the shoulders and brought my knee into their chest, a pair of arms wrapping around me once more to keep me up as the attacker fell. My vertigo was almost bad enough now that closing my eyes would make little difference, and I hoped I was even hitting my targets properly.  
  
Both the insect and I thrust our weight to the side to avoid a pair of ki darts, only to run into someone's swinging fist that caught me in the face, then in the stomach twice more. The huge beast then grabbed my arms, probably intending to tear them off but I flexed into position, using his grip to press one foot on his chest and one against his windpipe.  
  
Meanwhile, my companion had been barely hanging on for all of this, now dangling and screaming with a vice-like clutch around my ribs, actually adding to the counterweight I had against my opponent's ability to breathe. I'd taken ahold of his wrists so he couldn't let go and continued to tug, trusting I could choke him out as he stumbled backwards. The movement was making it immensely difficult to tell what in the hell I was actually doing, but relying on my last normally functioning sense – touch – was all I could manage.  
  
It wasn't long before I felt my adversary go lax and I released him, his body toppling away as I internally hoped the insect clinging to me would stop my fall.  
  
The bug's lanky arms, and partially its ability to fly, softened my short descent back to the floor and though I set my feet as best I could in preparation for more enemies, my companion seemed to have calmed down.   
  
“I th – think it's over,” it said. “There's only a few people standing...”  
  
 _Define 'standing,'_ I almost said aloud as I made a wobbly effort to lean as little as possible on the insect, turning to look around the room.  
  
It looked like it must have been a training space, largely empty aside from the bodies everywhere. Indeed, there were only a few people up and about, although I was still too dizzy to count them.  
  
I felt a small pit form in my stomach. If I'd have had the strength to, I don't know, break the door down and set everyone free, should I have done it? Judging by the scorch marks on it, several others had tried and failed to do so. Even if they were PTO, I had no doubt many of those defeated had lost their lives for nothing.  
  
“I can't believe you would save me. What an impressive warrior! Even intoxicated, you were able to -”  
  
“You were using me as a shield,” I replied to the attempt at false flattery, narrowing my eyes (partly to be intimidating and partly because focusing was still hard).  
  
“I – I was helping you!” the insect tried to defend. “And besides, even in your state you still didn't sustain a scratch!”  
  
“That little cretin who tossed me in here drugged me. And if it hadn't been for that, you have no idea what I...” I trailed off as my companion shifted to put my arm around its shoulders to support me.  
  
“Lieutenant-Captain Goda? Ohhhh, oh my, I wouldn't call her a cretin if I were you. Friends in high places, you know.”  
  
“Don't care. When's this going to fully wear off?”  
  
“I cannot say. Us Arlians aren't poisonous. If you have credits, you could visit the medical ward...” It then paused and fixed its globular, red eyes on me. “Are _you_ poisonous? You're rather brightly coloured and I've been in contact with you.”  
  
“You're fine. And you can let go of me now,” I said. It did as asked and let go, but made no other move as I managed to brace myself in place. Despite the residual burning in my nose, I could feel the toxin was just starting to go away, although I wasn't sure when my new companion was going to follow suit.  
  
“Hey! Are you two done over there? It looks like it's just the five of us,” a woman's voice interrupted.   
  
I once more scanned the rest of the room, this time confirming there really were only five of us left. The other three had grouped together and were making their way over.   
  
Another behemoth of a man, hairless and covered in leathery brown skin but dotted with protruding spikes (much like what I remembered of Dodoria) led the way, followed by a curvy woman with red skin and white hair. In the back was a skinny, amphibious looking creature; the trio were keeping just enough distance from one another to be safe.  
  
“I saw you two blundering over there. How in the hell did you make it?” the big man chortled.  
  
“I could ask the same for such a large target,” I replied, noting how the Arlian had moved behind me as the others drew near.  
  
“W – Well! I guess we're just the lucky ones,” it forced out.   
  
“Nah. A little brawl like this don't mean nothing to me. Ain't my first, especially with all that Saiyan bullshit that's going on. But it doesn't matter, now it'll be just the five of us splitting the mission's pay instead of seven. Provided we all get along, that is,” the large man said.  
  
“Er – right,” the Arlian answered.  
  
I said nothing. These people were acting so _casual_ , considering they'd probably been at each other's throats minutes ago.   
  
“So,” the woman began, “I wonder what this mission is actually going to be? If it's so high-ranking, I expect the options are narrow.”  
  
“Isn't it obvious?” The big man smirked. “We're going to be killing monkeys.”  
  
  
                                                                                                  - ~ -   
  
  
My ki sensory ability told me Cold was still present aboard the ship (although I didn't know _why_ he was here and whether it really was just coincidence that we'd met in this place), but that concern was relegated to the back of my mind with the current distraction of Goda as she spoke.   
  
And my half desire to break cover and deal out her karma personally.  
  
“The target in question, Planet Pimien, is normally uninhabited by sentient life,” she began, “but the conditions are enough for a stalwart carbon-based species to survive. In this case, a group of a dozen or so Saiyans have chosen to use its natural terrain as a stronghold against any PTO forces that have pursued them thus far. We don't know their exact numbers because they've killed every squadron we've sent until now, but their ability to cause the damage they have indicates there's likely more than a few of them. We believe they may be drawing us in intentionally so they can pick us off, but there's no sense in wasting a few hundred more ill-equipped soldiers... That's where you come in.”  
  
The five of us were grouped before the diminutive lieutenant-captain, she debriefing us at a quick pace. My thoughts were buzzing about what I would do once we arrived on the planet. Perhaps my fellow Saiyans would recognize me, perhaps not. But the issue was my current teammates, whom I couldn't simply send away after they figured out who I was. I had no particular affinity for them, but no matter what I did, I couldn't stomach senseless death. But they couldn't be allowed to live when they were willing – eager even – to kill as many of my people as it took.  
  
“You all know who the Saiyans are,” Goda went on, “and some of you have probably worked alongside one or two. But make no mistake... they may be depleted in number, they may be wounded, but killing them is no simple task. As you may know, they're hardwired for a natural prowess in combat, which was why Lord Frieza allowed them to serve in the first place despite their recent betrayal. Even their children are aggressive, although their kind doesn't reproduce easily – do _not_ allow their whelps to escape by any fleeting notion of sympathy.”  
  
My chest felt tight, but I managed to maintain a neutral demeanour as she continued.   
  
“Saiyans are led by their strongest bloodline, so each and every one of them will follow in their monarch's footsteps – none can be left alive. But with Lord Frieza behind us, we can quash the remnants of their savagery.”  
  
“What about the king?” the Arlian cut in. Goda shot it a look as the insect cowered a little.

  
“I – I mean, we were just wondering... you know... there hasn't been word of him in a while and if he's their strongest and still out there...” it trailed off.  
  
Goda sighed irritably.   
  
“I'll have you know,” she snapped, “that if any of you had bothered not to grovel at a damn heedless rumour, you'd be aware that Lord Frieza is far too powerful for the likes of this Saiyan King. He attempted to take down our Lord and failed miserably. If Vegeta lives, he's no doubt rotting in a cell somewhere.”  
  
“So that means you don't know for sure,” I blurted dryly. Her eyes narrowed, and she waited a long moment before speaking again.   
  
“I suggest that you get moving. The five of you have only a few days to deal with the Saiyans, and you're lucky I've given you any information at all. If you take any longer than the allotted time, you'll be presumed dead. If you return after that point, you'll be confirmed dead less than painlessly. Fulfill your task properly and you'll receive your pay. Understand?”  
  
After my companions' quiet affirmation, Goda dismissed us to get armour or whatever else was needed before shipping off in our assigned pods. (The craft I'd arrived in would remain docked where I'd left it, as the attack pod would be faster.) I followed the others quietly, letting all my thoughts and concerns simmer inwardly.  
  
It was on our way to retrieve our arsenal that the insect began trying to broach conversation.   
  
“Er, so... which of us is the leader?” it went on as we walked. Not far off, a row of rehabilitation tanks glowed in contrast with the ship's stale lighting, visible through a wide archway that we passed.  
  
“Me,” said the Dodoria copy.   
  
“Why you?” came the sound of a voice I didn't recognize, which I quickly determined to be that of the otherwise silent amphibian.   
  
“'Cause I'm the strongest.”  
  
“How do you know that?” the red-skinned woman challenged.   
  
“I thought it was real obvious, but if any of you wanna have a go to prove it...”  
  
“Won't Goda be appointing the squadron leader?” the Arlian cut in. “And even if not, shouldn't a leader be chosen based on their intelligence, or ability to strategize?”  
  
“You callin' me stupid, shitstick?” the large man threatened, stopping in place. Incidentally, the Arlian had been walking behind me, so the Dodoria look-alike was now glowering at me – or more accurately, over my head and nettled that I was in the way. It was no surprise that the insect became even more clingy and had all but cowered behind my back, much to my annoyance.  
  
“I'm not saying that!” it squeaked over my shoulder. “I – I'm just saying we haven't assessed the whole group's qualifications -”  
  
I was about to hiss a retort at the Arlian, demand _for the love of the gods, keep out of my personal space_ before our burly companion barked a laugh.  
  
“Even if I was stupid, it don't matter. What the PTO is thinking about right now is exterminating Saiyans, and they're the dumbest fucking killers in the galaxy. If they don't get orders from their _strongest_ dumb fuck, who's dead as the rumours go, they're as good as beasts – they eat the people they kill, everything but the bone. They might not even wait until you're completely dead,” he chortled.   
  
I stood there, half in cold shock at the words and half in an emotion I couldn't name as I thought Goku, of Father, of my own blood, of home and what it must've looked like blown into a hundred thousand pieces and my child sister and _how dare_ –   
  
“I'm not so sure about that,” the red-skinned woman interrupted. “This rumoured dead man you speak of is also the one rumoured to have decimated the Ginyu Force by himself, bested several prestigous bounty hunters, captained his own squadron before he was knee-high _and_ lived through his first attempted rebellion against Lord Frieza. Saiyans are craftier than you think.”  
  
The Dodoria look-alike turned to face her. “Look who's suddenly so knowledgeable.”  
  
“You don't have to know much about Saiyans to have heard about Vegeta,” she replied with a shrug.  
  
“And? He's dead anyway. Him going quiet for so many years just made the stories crazier.”  
  
“We don't know that he's dead for sure. There's a reason the PTO just happens to be promising a ton of money for the people willing to go after the Saiyans, and I'm willing to bet it's 'cause Vegeta's still out there. Still moving right under the Cold Family's nose. Think of all the ships and squadrons that have just vanished into thin air recently. Hell, even entire stations have gone quiet.”  
  
A surprisingly weighted silence fell over the group. I didn't know much about my father's reputation outside of what little he'd told me about his earlier life, but the sudden muteness of the air spoke for itself.   
  
It stuck me then. Were they... _afraid_ of us?  
  
“Bah. _Rumours_ ,” the big man finally said. “Lord Frieza's just paranoid 'cause his precious oracle tucked tail and ran at the first sign of trouble. The Colds ain't stupid. And I don't care about the rest of you, but if they're willing to pay large, then I'm willing to do the job.”  
  
And with that, he was on his way once more, leaving the rest of us to pursue or to be left behind.  
  
  
                                                                                                 - ~ -   
  
  
_**We made it to Tech-Tech,**_ Gohan confirmed. _**It's nice to hear from you again.**_  
  
The space pod was small, not small enough to force me into foetal position but it felt like a cocoon nonetheless. My shuttle was linked to the other four, and though my companions were probably choosing to settle into the half baked cryo-sleep provided by the pod already, I wanted to stay awake just for a little while more. The trip to Pimien wouldn't be long, but I didn't want to wait before trying to reach Gohan. This time, I'd been successful.   
  
_**Good to hear a familiar voice. I won't beleaguer you with too many details now, but things are an absolute shitfest,**_ I replied.  
  
 _ **No kidding. Do you want to go first?  
  
'First'? Why, what happened? My problems can wait.   
  
Well, like I said, we made it to Tech-Tech. And it's a good thing we came here or things would've been worse. We were assaulted by PTO soldiers as soon as we landed, which wasn't a problem for us, but... the natives were in bad shape. Still are in bad shape. I guess the organization caught wind of your uncle having lived here years ago, so they attacked the planet on basis of the Tech-Techs being allies of the Saiyans. These people were slaughtered. Half the buildings are rubble and the air is too toxic for life outdoors. Once we took care of the soldiers we were able to rescue survivors, but things aren't looking well.  
  
**_My mouth felt dry. They'd even gone after such a loose connection, and from a species who had only their technology to defend themselves?  
  
 _ **What about Gure? Is she alright?**_ I inquired about the female who'd raised my sister, knowing the alien had returned to her home at some point for a visit. I hadn't spoken much with Tarble's wife, but she was as kindhearted as they came.  
  
There was a pause. _**We found her**_ , Gohan finally began, _**but I don't know what would've happened if we weren't there. We had to resuscitate her with a senzu bean. She's with us now, trying to help get things back together, but there's so many others who are hurt... I think the PTO was trying to make an example.**_  
  
I stared out the small window of the pod, watching space rush by as I toyed with my necklace.   
  
It was one slaughter after another. Another fear tactic to spread among those who weren't strong enough to stand up against Frieza and his forces. Another insult. Another challenge.  
  
Another reason for me to step out of the shadows.   
  
_**Trunks? Are you still there?**_ Gohan said.  
  
 _ **I'm here.  
  
I'm sorry that things keep getting worse, **_he said.  
  
 _ **I know. But it won't be long. Your father should be able to sense my energy now – I think we might be seeing each other again soon. Hopefully there will be a few more Saiyans with me. I'm on route to a planet that may have some hope for us.  
  
  
**_                                                                                                 - ~ -   
  
  
I awoke from cryo-sleep with pins and needles in one arm and a mechanical voice from the pod's computer announcing I would be reaching the planet within fifteen minutes.  
  
Despite not remembering when the system had put me to sleep, I certainly _felt_ like I'd been out for at least a week straight. Trying to stretch my legs as best I could – although I'd have better luck once I was back on solid ground – I also tried rubbing my arm a bit to return normal sensation.   
  
Outside the window the gulf of space whisked by, a colourful sphere in the centre of my view growing bigger with each second. The pod lights were coming on, darkness diminishing as the landing systems began prepping themselves ahead of time.   
  
I couldn't really do much but squirm around uncomfortably. The amount of leg-room I had was just short of being able to straighten fully, which annoyed me a lot until I realized most of my irritation was because I was starving. Of course, there was nothing to do but wait it out.   
  
My fingers made a quick brush over my jaw, confirming that not even a hint of stubble was there (although that wasn't too surprising, as the hair on Saiyans that did grow took awhile). It seemed the only effect time had on someone in cryo-sleep was the hunger.   
  
Several minutes later and the planet Pimien was all I could see out the small window, adorned by swaths of purple and green colour. A small amount of turbulence disturbed the craft's trajectory, but for the most part it was designed to withstand a lot, even as I started to pass through the atmosphere and enter the uppermost cloud formations.  
  
The pod was internally mechanized to roll as little as possible, but I still felt the yank of inertia as my spacecraft smacked into the planet's surface and kept going, eventually digging a trench into the ground until its momentum slid to a halt.  
  
I gave the door a less-than-gentle nudge with my heel, prompting it to activate and allow a gust of air to flow inside. The readout on the pod's dashboard concurred with what I'd been told; the environment wouldn't poison or suffocate me but there wasn't enough oxygen for it to be a comfortable experience. At worst, I would exhaust much faster than usual – if I'd been pure human, prolonged exposure might've eventually caused me brain damage.  
  
I pulled myself from the craft, blinking at the new world around me.   
  
It was either twilight or early morning, based on the deep green hue of the sky and the lack of light around me. Unless, of course, Pimien was tidally locked and the amount of sun depended completely on geographical standpoint. But it was precisely this landscape that caught my attention: all around me stood colossal, mushroom-like vegetation, luminescent purples and blues pulsating inside them. The dirt under me was black as coal, extremely spongy and in places spotted with miniature clusters of the strange 'trees.' The air was devoid of smell.   
  
Reaching back into the pod, I pulled out the scouter I'd brought along. Until any Saiyans turned up, it would be best to keep avoiding suspicion and respond to any incoming transmissions my companions might send. I put the device on, but ignored the small scroll of information it immediately began to provide.   
  
I closed the pod's door, briefly looked over the long gouge my landing had dug in the soft earth, and decided the next thing to do was locate the others. Expanding my consciousness, I found the four of them were fairly close by, all having reached the surface around the same time. I still didn't know what I was going to do about them – if I were smart, I'd be trying to find the Saiyans before they did.   
  
I took to the air, flying in my companions' direction until I was hovering just over the tops of the mushrooms and I could see better, maybe pinpoint where the Saiyans could be.  
  
Maroon-hued mountains decorated the horizon near and far, the hills sharp in some places and flatter in the region we were in. I found the sun in the sky at my back, tucked behind the natural formations except for the few trails of day lagging behind the presumed sunset, a few grey wisps of cloud in the green firmament.   
  
It was a beautiful sight. For whatever purpose, destroying the planet outright hadn't been an option – perhaps in interest of resources – and I was actually a bit thankful for reasons other than the obvious. I hadn't been to many planets, and while Earth and home had their own beauties, I didn't know when I'd get the chance to see a view like this again.  
  
“Hey!” someone called from the ground below. Scanning the surface, I spotted the Arlian waving its spindly arms at me. As I couldn't sense any trace of ki that didn't belong to the soldiers I'd arrived with, I descended and touched down beside the insect.  
  
“You can be seen very easily in the sky, you know,” it said, approaching me. “It's not safe, especially when these aren't supposed to be ordinary Saiyans. Plus, they get power from the moon. Can't afford to be reckless.”  
  
“I'm not concerned. And this planet doesn't have any moons anyway,” I replied, looking around.   
  
“Huh? Do those blue eyes of yours mean you're blind? The moon is right there.”   
  
I paused, turning back to stare at it. Its arm was outstretched towards the sky; I followed the line of focus until I could see –   
  
There. A glowing shape, too big and close to be a star. It couldn't be a moon; I would've noticed it. The pale, striking light it gave off was... odd. It made me feel odd. Something in me bristled at the sight of it.  
  
“What... the hell is that?” I blurted.  
  
“What do you mean? It's -”  
  
“That's not a moon. It can't be, the moon doesn't –“  
  
I stopped mid-sentence, wracking my brain trying to come up with the __why for this sensation. It was almost like... a self-awareness, the realization of every cell in your body humming with life, the same feeling I got from a full moon and while its rays couldn't make me transform I still –   
  
Blutz waves. The thing was giving off Blutz waves, and it wasn't a natural moon, which meant...  
  
“Oh,” I realized aloud.   
  
At that moment, a sound – one I also recognized by the instinct that suddenly seized my body – thundered over the forest, a guttural roar that I felt in my bones.  
  


 

 


	8. Chapter 8

  
All Saiyans, even elites, were at the unpredictable mercy of moonlight in achieving their greatest natural-born power. Whether one could control it or not, becoming a Great Ape increased one's strength ten times over, making it a harbinger of destruction that few ordinary people could contend with. And somewhere along the line, a Saiyan had been clever enough to realize they could bypass waiting for natural Blutz waves and create some of their own.   
  
The 'artificial moon,' as some called it: a small ball of ki that reacted specifically with a planet's atmosphere to mock the effects of a full lunar cycle. The technique was purportedly a substantial drain on a Saiyan's energy (aside from the transformation itself), but was much less of a risk if attacking in a group.   
  
Even a single pair of Saiyans could pull it off if determined. Particularly if they were also engaging in a surprise attack on four unsuspecting PTO soldiers and one prince with both questionable loyalty to his companions and the ability to sense ki. Ki that, despite one of the incoming duo being stronger than the other, could contend against a Super Saiyan's.  
  
As the roar of the Great Ape faded into echo, I realized that my legs were already moving – running in the direction of the sound, brain trying to catch up to formulate a plan. I could dimly hear the Arlian running after me, voice all squeaky with fear as it demanded to know _what in the hell was that noise_ and nearly tripping over its own feet attempting to keep up with me.  
  
We'd landed our ships near where the last Saiyan activity had been recorded on the planet. And it looked like they'd been waiting for us. Though I could only sense two so far, if they had the ability to hide their energy – since I hadn't sensed them until now – it was possible for there to be more. Two survivors here was better than zero, but still...  
  
(It'd been so long since I'd seen another Saiyan, a _real_ Saiyan, and even though I had Goku and Tarble it _wasn't the same, wasn't even like how Father was –_ )  
  
Flashes of light danced across the mushroom tops ahead of me, meaning the battle had already started. There were snips of movement too, but I couldn't focus on what was what from this distance. But I could feel the swirl of energies there.

Still in mid-run, I tore off my scouter and threw it away before reaching for the capsule on my necklace, tossing it into the air in an arc so that when the smoke burst and the sword fell, I caught it without losing stride and clipped the strap over my chest so that the blade rested in its natural place. Then, summoning my inner power, I became a Super Saiyan and moved onward with a surge of velocity.  
  
Within half a minute I reached the field of battle, seeming as if it was unfolding before me.

Two Saiyans in ape form loomed over the mushroom forest, colossi in comparison to the soldiers trying to put up a fight around them. My companions – former companions, and I could only see two of them besides the Arlian– were darting around in the air trying to avoid the surprisingly fast movements of their opponents.   
  
The Saiyans themselves were clearly distinguishable, armoured, one noticeably bigger than the other in both stature and power. The smaller one, however, seemed in less control of themselves, slashing around on all fours. There also seemed to be strange black markings on one side of their face, but I couldn't get a good look and my attention quickly shifted onto what in the hell I was supposed to do now.   
  
I wasn't sure if these Saiyans were in full control of their minds, so was it even worth it to try reasoning? If I destroyed the artificial moon, they'd be left vulnerable; if I showed I was strong enough to take on everyone here maybe the soldiers would back down and they wouldn't have to die –   
  
“Hey!” I called out, since no one had noticed me yet.  
  
They continued not noticing, ground thundering from the Saiyan's blows. Earth and vegetation was crushed with each awry blow, dirt and bits flying into the air. A chunk of rock flew by pretty close to my head, but not close enough or dangerous enough that I needed to move.   
  
Just as I was about to run forward again, I saw the smaller ape swipe their arm through the air and seize the Dodoria look-alike, smashing him into the ground.   
  
In a split second that seemed to freeze in my mind's eye, the Saiyan then lifted the man to their giant, razor-teeth filled maw and, biting down, tore him into pieces with their teeth. Blood ran out between the gaps – and the Saiyan finally turned and locked their eyes onto my position.   
  
They opened their mouth again, as if they were going to roar, but instead a massive swirl of yellow ki formed and then struck the wide swath of ground I'd just been standing on, incinerating everything in its path. 

I'd leaped into the air and the beam followed me, and I flew myself closer to the Saiyan each time I swerved to avoid their attack.  
  
“Hey! Can you understand me?!” I yelled once I'd gotten close enough and the beam had dissipated. In response, the ape swung their fist and sent me into the ground. Their arm came down a second time but, as I was still a Super Saiyan, I caught the blow to prevent myself from being crushed.   
  
Slowly, I started pushing the ape's fist back, getting my legs under me for better leverage.   
  
“Look – you don't have to fight me! If anything I say is even getting through... I came here to help you! I'm the Prince of Saiyans! I'm not dead!” I implored.   
  
The Saiyan roared wordlessly in animal frustration and brought their other hand down, forcing me to free one of my arms to fire a ki blast in that direction. It struck home and the ape reeled back away from me, for the moment.  
  
I had to destroy the artificial moon – the affects of the Blutz waves would still last a little while after, but once it waned the Saiyans' strength would drop (and I didn't want to resort to cutting off their tails). I could take down the smaller one as an ordinary Super Saiyan, but the other...   
  
Glancing over, I noticed that the bigger Saiyan was finally starting to look in my direction. That one was going to give me more trouble. If I didn't have to use the Ascended form, I wouldn't, but unless I could reason with them the larger ape – judging by their energy – could cause me some serious damage. If the two of them ganged up on me, I'd have no choice but to Ascend.   
  
Raising my hands to the sky, I was about to start gathering energy for an attack at the artificial moon when I was unceremoniously swiped off my feet.  
  
I didn't realize what had happened, completely disoriented until I felt a constricting pressure around my body and the lack of ground beneath me. One of the Saiyans must have smashed me against against the ground and now, as I quickly determined, I was encircled in their fist, only one arm free from their iron grip.  
  
 **“Not fast enough,”** the ape's voice boomed.   
  
_This one can talk! If they'll listen to me...  
  
_ Up close, it was startling just how huge the Great Ape appeared, this one in particular. Their fur was a shade away from pitch black and the white of their fangs, about half my body length, contrasted vividly with the leathery skin of their face and nose. I couldn't exactly read an emotion from their glowing red eyes, but I didn't doubt that if this one decided to take after the other and eat somebody, two or three people would fit in their mouth without a problem. The thought was not comforting.   
  
“Hey! You can understand me, right?!” I said, attempting to reason again. “We don't have to be fighting! I'm the Prince of Saiyans and I came here to help you!”   
  
The Saiyan didn't answer and instead started to tighten their grip and crush me.   
  
“Are you even listening?! Look at me, I'm a Super Saiyan!” I started pushing back against their hold, one hand reaching for the hilt of my sword. “I don't want to fight you!”  
  
Just as I finished speaking, there were several sharp flashes of light in the sky, attacks aimed at the artificial moon coming from the ground below. There, to my amazement, I saw the Arlian running with all its might from the other Great Ape. The insect had tried to destroy the sphere by itself. No, not tried – the insect had actually succeeded in destroying it. The glow from the orb's former position was fading with the pulses of light heralding its obliteration. _  
_  
Taking advantage of my captor's shock, in a quick motion I used my free arm to withdraw my sword and slash down, biting deep into the Saiyan's skin and their blood spit from the wound onto my arms. They loosened their clutch with a surprised growl and I took the opportunity to slip out, darting into the sky.  
  
I narrowly dodged the next swipe from the larger ape still on my tail, following up with a series of rapid kicks to their arm which appeared to do nothing. Despite their bulk, the transformation didn't slow them down a relative amount so while I didn't want to severely injure them, I had to defend myself until I got through. I supposed the Saiyan with their wits still intact just didn't believe what I was telling them – but how did I _make_ them believe me?  
  
I could hear the Arlian screaming now. It was the last PTO soldier left alive; the last enemy to the Saiyans still on this planet. Stealing glances where I could, I noticed that the smaller ape had seized the insect and, after hitting it against the ground a couple times, proceeded to start stepping on it.   
  
Without thinking, I aimed my palm towards the Saiyan and let loose an energy ball large enough to throw them off their feet and away from the Arlian. Then, I dropped rapidly to the ground, darting between the legs of the larger Saiyan and slicing at them with my blade, giving me a small window where I was able to get to the insect's prone form.   
  
When I reached it, I could see it was still alive. Dazed, bruised, but alive.   
  
“Listen up! If you want to live, you'd better get out of here! This is your last chance!” I ordered. Whatever pity, or mercy, or gods-knew-what made me offer the creature an opportunity to live, I was letting the instinct run its course.   
  
“Y – You saved me again,” the insect wheezed.   
  
“I'd really appreciate it if a single one of you idiots actually payed attention to what I'm saying! If you don't want to be _crushed to death_ , you need to take a pod and get off this planet!”  
  
“But that m – moon thing is destroyed! I watched you fight, the two of us can win!” it argued.   
  
“You stupid insect!” I growled, thrashing it back and forth out of frustration. “You work for the PTO! If you don't fucking leave, I won't save you again because I'm not one of you! I'm a Saiyan and I pretended to be on your side so I could get here to help my people! If you have any sense of self-preservation in you, you'd run as fast as you can to tell Frieza that the Prince of Saiyans is alive and pray I don't change my mind!”  
  
The Arlian sat there in stunned silence, globular eyes wide, so with that I stood up and hurled the creature into the sky as hard as I could. I didn't bother to watch its trajectory before I was rolling to evade a blast launched at me from one of the Saiyans, the heat so close it actually singed my side a little.   
  
When I was back on my feet from the momentum, I was already braced to retaliate when I noticed the smaller Saiyan was staggering back, as if trying to regain their balance. Only when they began to topple, shrinking behind the tops of the mushroom forest at the same time did I realize the Blutz waves were wearing off, and the larger Saiyan was following suit.   
  
As I started moving in their direction I realized that the sky had been getting brighter, shadows cast by the giant mushrooms deepening as the sun slowly rose. Patches of light were forming in the gaps between the natural vegetation and the areas where it had been destroyed by the battle, and a sense of warming tinged the air. My estimated time of day had been backwards.   
  
I didn't know which Saiyan to go after first. The swells of their ki were falling dramatically, but within moments they were shrinking unnaturally fast until they disappeared and I realized they were trying to hide their energies. I didn't have a scouter on me anymore, but they wouldn't know that for sure – nor would they be aware I could sense them if they slipped up.  
  
My heavy breathing became the only sound in my ears so I slowed to a walk. The atmosphere had taken a greater toll on me than anticipated; even if I had ki to spare it wouldn't stop the degree of hypoxia affecting my body. The last thing I wanted to do was make myself pass out. However, it would bother me less if I stayed a Super Saiyan, so I did.  
  
I stopped in place and lowered my sword arm so that the tip of the blade rested in the dirt. Taking one more deep breath, I concentrated on the scents in the air.  
  
Most of it, like before, had no odour. But traces of smoke, blood, and sweat hinted here and there, but I needed something a little more precise, more individual –  
  
 _There it is_. The smell of a Saiyan, but not the one whose blood was on my sword. The smaller one, then.  
  
I'd actually gone numb to the familiar scent of Saiyans for the most part, until I'd lived on Earth and understood how different it was from that of a human's. A pure human, at least. (Half-bloods seemed to sway one way or the other depending on where or with whom they spent their time.)  
  
The ground rose into a gradual hill as I continued onward, following the scent I'd caught. Going further, I noticed the earth was overturned in large patches – and then I heard a shift of movement, barely there.   
  
I moved a little further up, eyes locking onto the source of the disturbance to my left.   
  
There, a humanoid figure was pulling himself to his feet, struggling from exhaustion with harsh breaths and using the trunk of a mushroom as support. When he raised his head, his eyes locked on mine and he froze.   
  
He was lean and wiry, making him appear more dexterous than strong. His barely shoulder-length hair was a layered mess, some of it falling as bangs and the rest didn't seem to have a particular place. He was aged somewhere in his prime, like me, but what stood out the most about him were the markings: flowing black patterns on the right side of his face, extending down his neck and arm. Tattoos. I'd never seen anything like it.  
  
While he probably didn't remember the battle very well, the look in his eyes as he acknowledged me indicated he had some awareness left over. I suddenly remembered I was wearing PTO armour, and still held my bloodied sword at my side.   
  
His expression shifted from restrained fear to determination before he spit a wad of blood onto the ground.  
  
“Get on with it, then,” he uttered between heaves for air.   
  
“I'm not here to kill you,” I replied, taking a step forward. “We're on the same side. If you just listen to me -”  
  
I didn't get to finish because I was abruptly struck with what felt like a boulder projectile-launched into my side, sending me and the unknown force careening down the hill one over the other.   
  
Whatever this thing was, it was solid, and kept my shoulders pinned in such a way that each time I rotated to hit dirt was more jostling than the last until, at the bottom of the hill, I threw the weight off and managed to stop my tumble on my hands and knees.  
  
My fingers instinctively coiled over where the handle of my sword should've been, but it wasn't there. I knew I'd dropped it during the fall, but I didn't have time to look around for it because my tackler was already up so I moved to follow suit. Unfortunately, it – _he?_ – was faster to recover and before I could evade, a robust kick to my side was sending me through the air to smack into one of the mushroom trees.   
  
I landed roughly upright enough to catch myself, but then my opponent was there and he struck me directly in the sternum, _hard_ , with his fist and it knocked more wind out of me. However, I caught the second incoming punch and locked eyes with the perpetrator.   
  
A woman. It was too dark still to make out smaller details but she was indeed female – long-haired and strikingly tall, over six and a half feet by my estimate, with broad shoulders and muscular arms. She somehow remained strong enough to hurt me in my Super Saiyan form.  
  
I set my jaw and summoned more strength, bracing myself and then pushing her back with a growl. Realistically, I knew I could end this very quickly by Ascending. Yet if I could help it, I'd rather hurt the Saiyans as little as possible until they listened to me. Neither of them seemed to recognize the form I was in now...  
  
“Stop fighting and let me explain!” I tried yet again as I swung a punch and a roundhouse kick at her head, which she was able to merely lean back from. “If you don't I'm going to have to get serious!”  
  
Despite the concentration of energy she seemed to put into her physical strength, I was still faster, and if my predictions were correct she would lack the stamina to maintain her brute power and would tire very soon. She was breathing harder than I was, both from the atmosphere and in recovery from her transformation. Yet –   
  
_She's trying to target my vital areas_ , I realized the instant before I leapt back to dodge the knee intended to hit between my legs. _She's tiring out and trying to end this quickly._  
  
 _If she wants to play dirty, fine.  
  
_ I let one of her next blows knock me down, exaggerating my weakness so that I could stagger backwards into a roll and stop close to the ground without looking suspicious, releasing my transformation. Predictably, the woman followed in right after, thinking I was genuinely off-guard. _  
  
_Both of us were in the direct light of the sunrise now, favouring me as it was at my back. My hand curled into the soft earth as she moved to strike down at me.  
  
But she suddenly hesitated, arm slowing mid-swing as she met my gaze, the split-second hovering in the air.  
  
In the rays of dawn, I was able to see her surprise clearly – make out the details of her features, inexplicably noting the spattering of freckles on her cheekbones right before I threw my handful of dirt into her coal-coloured eyes.  
  
She jerked away instantly as if stung, already wiping at her eyes and stumbling the other direction in a hiss of pain. A few moments she was falling over, flat on her back before rolling to her knees in some effort to not be totally vulnerable. But she didn't return to her feet.   
  
I stood up. “Are you done now?” I said, the question an honest one. She didn't respond, although I could tell she was trying to reorient herself. Nevertheless, if she'd fallen from a mere smattering of dirt, she was much more fatigued than she appeared.  
  
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other Saiyan had recovered and was limping his way over. When he saw his companion's situation, his eyes widened and in a contrastingly odd gesture of compassion he then sped into a run to reach her side. However, he slowed to a walk within a few yards of distance, then gently took her around the shoulders to guide her to her feet. The woman apparently still had the strength to shrug her companion off and finish wiping at her eyes once she stood up again.   
  
“You,” she said abruptly. “I know your face.”  
  
I was about to reply when I saw that she had cut off whatever she'd been going to say next, eyes having shifted to something behind me.   
  
“It took you long enough,” a voice called out from that direction.   
  
“If it isn't our resident No Name... Finally decided to join the party?” the tattooed Saiyan spat at the owner of the voice.   
  
Slowly, I turned around, not having noticed the third energy emerge until now.   
  
“I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the Prince of Saiyans,” the newcomer replied.  
  
Dark, focused eyes. A pale, x-shaped scar marring his entire left cheek and a tangle of black bangs framing a face that, as always, was one I knew best second only to my own – except it _wasn't_ that person. It was –   
  
“ _Tora?_ ” I blurted in disbelief.  
  
Tora, with my blade in his hand, cocked a tiny smile. “It's been awhile, kid.”  


 


	9. Chapter 9

  
“I believe this is yours,” Tora said, lifting his arm up a little to indicate he meant my sword. Then he tossed it, and I raised my hand to catch it by the handle.  
  
“What – what are you doing here?” I said, brain still trying to piece together the sudden shift in situation.  
  
“Came here with those two charming individuals,” he replied with less-than-subtle sarcasm. “I saw that you would be here. To make a long story short, I need your help.”  
  
“You saw – ? Wait a second. Were you watching the battle this whole time?” I slid the blade back into its scabbard.  
  
“Yes...” he replied, walking closer. “You've gotten stronger, clearly.”  
  
“Nevermind that right now. Why didn't you step into the fight? Whether you knew I was coming or just recognized me during battle, you could have said something to these two.”  
  
“The level of trust between those Saiyans and I is at the bare minimum needed to cooperate. Even if you think they'd believe me without seeing the real thing, those PTO lackeys needed to be dealt with.”  
  
Of course, I knew they hadn't _all_ been 'dealt with,' but I didn't correct him.  
  
“So...” I looked back and forth between the nameless pair and Tora. “You're the only Saiyans here? They told us it was a bigger group.”  
  
The tattooed man took the moment to interject. “Why do you think you idiots kept showing up? If the PTO thinks this is the safe haven, let 'em – we've been picking the fuckers off for weeks. But I think we're the ones supposed to be asking questions about _you_ .”  
  
I shifted more of my focus away from Tora on my left to the Saiyans on my right. The two of them, battered though they were, had no severe injuries. This was partly thanks to my restraint and partly to the natural healing provided during or after a Great Ape transformation. The armour they wore had vague similarities to the PTO style, but also clear differences – that, included with what they wore underneath, was obviously able to flex with becoming an ape (otherwise, it would've been torn to shreds and they'd be standing there naked).  
  
“Neither of you seemed like you were in a listening mood, even though your companion said she knew my face just now,” I offered.  
  
The woman made no answer, merely continuing to analyze Bardock and I with her dark eyes. The tattooed man looked at her, saw that no response was forthcoming, and then turned back to me.  
  
“I don't know what you expected, trying to talk to an ape,” he spat. “And she's not – I mean, you look more like one of these damned plants than a Saiyan.”  
  
“I'm glad you noticed. I was getting worried there that your brain hadn't returned to normal along with the rest of you,” I fired back. Not only had the man's reply not explained the situation any better, but my hair colour was _much_ nicer than those overgrown mushrooms.  
  
“Oh, really? How 'bout I show you how much you should worry, you -”  
  
The man's growl was cut off when he began moving forward, presumably to come get in my face when the woman nonchalantly stuck her leg out and tripped him, causing him to topple directly forward into the dirt.  
  
After a long second he managed to roll himself back over, as quickly as his exhausted body would let him, and glared up at the woman.  
  
“What the fuck was that for?” he demanded, tail uncoiling to thrash beside him in anger.  
  
“Daikon,” she said, “stop talking. It's distracting.”  
  
“Who're you calling distracting? If you aren't careful a low-flying spaceship could smack you in the forehead, you beanpole!”  
  
“I said stop talking. I'm surprised you still have the energy to run your mouth.”  
  
Their camaraderie was a weird contrast, especially since I'd seen the man literally eat someone several minutes ago. He – Daikon – looked like he was about to argue more, pulling himself to a sitting position on the ground, but the woman stepped forward around him and he seemed to give up, eyes boring a hole into her back as she continued on to approach me.  
  
One she reached within a few feet she stopped, staring down with a slight narrowing of her eyes. Her posture was relaxed, so I doubted she planned on attacking me again, but I was slightly on guard nevertheless.  
  
I hadn't seen many Saiyan females in my lifetime, but then again, a lot of people hadn't. No one, so far, had tried very hard to figure out why so few of them were born. I knew Gine, but not many others, and the human equivalents on Earth had a distinctly different presence than the woman standing in front of me. In this lighting, I was able to get a pretty good look at her.  
  
Like her companion, she was in her prime somewhere. As I'd noted before, she had a very male-pattern physique, aside from small cues like a too-smooth throat and completely clean jaw, though her chest was not at all visible. Her hair was half pulled into a braid down her back and the rest was in thick layers around her face and shoulders, sable like her tail. Freckles dotted her cheekbones, among other areas, and while her features weren't as delicate as, say, Mom's or even Videl's, she wasn't unattractive.  
  
“You really are the son of Vegeta,” the woman said in a slow, careful alto.  
  
“What would you know about him?” I asked. “A few minutes ago you seemed to prefer trying to crush me than listen to what I was saying.”  
  
“I've met your father. The resemblance is strong, although it took me longer to be sure with dirt in my eyes,” she continued in that same measured tone while narrowing her gaze. “Though the rumours about you seem to be true – except for the one where you're dead.”  
  
“You can't always believe what you hear.”  
  
“Speaking of rumours,” Tora cut in, “you've probably heard your fare share of what's going on.”  
  
I shifted to look at him. He walked closer, talking as he moved. “There's are things of importance you need to know – maybe it's best we go back to camp.”  
  
“You have a camp?” I said.  
  
“Close enough. You're hungry too, right? We have food to last until – well. Nevermind that for now. This way.”  
  
And with that, he turned and headed off the other direction without looking back.  
  
I hadn't even agreed, but I supposed I was going anyway. Tora seemed pretty confident about himself.  
  
I started to follow, noting that Daikon had gotten up at some point to do the same, and the four of us began making our way across the alien terrain.  
  
  
                                                                                                   - ~ -  
  
  
I was glad Tora hadn't been kidding about food. I wasn't quite full, but I'd been given enough to take the edge off the sensation of my stomach turning inside out. Some of it was that powdered stuff I hated (but ate anyway, in my current situation), and the rest was foreign. Tora himself partook in next to none of it, choosing to stay mostly silent until the other two Saiyans and I were done.  
  
Their camp hadn't been quite what I expected. Much closer to the distant mountains, the ground had become harder, a different kind of rock even. The mushrooms were still growing here and there, but the landscape had changed into large shelves of stone protruding unevenly, a few of which had caves inside. The trio had chosen one of the largest of these, and outside of it rested the most beat-up spaceship I'd ever seen, but we continued on past to enter the cavern. Tora muttered something about rain and suggested we stay inside even though there were hardly any clouds overhead. We all complied anyway and a fire was set to light the darker interior as we sat around it.  
  
For the first few minutes I kept my guard up a bit, but seeing the duo I'd fought earlier ignore me in favour of their meals made me relax – at least for the moment. Once finished, they left outside to the ship for a brief period and came back in different, cleaner, and undamaged clothes. Both wore altered versions of the same attire: form-fitted tops that exposed their arms paired with looser trousers that tucked into their boots. The design wasn't something I'd ever seen on Planet Vegeta, but it seemed to fit the image of a spacefarer pretty well.  
  
“So,” I began, “were you two former PTO soldiers as well or what?” Most Saiyans, of course, had been. But to my knowledge most Saiyans were dead now too.  
  
“The PTO can eat shit. I've never been one of their lackeys,” Daikon hurled at me, rubbing his tattooed arm absently.  
  
“At least I can say that's one thing we have in common,” I said, trying once more to broach _some_ amicability at the minimum. _There's so few of us left, so it's probably best for me to just swallow my pride and –_   
  
“You can eat shit too, half-breed,” he retorted. He pointedly looked away to signal he wasn't interested in talking to me, like it was beneath him.  
  
“ _Tch_ . Look, asshole, I'm willing to work together for the sake of a bigger problem, but if you call me that again I'll break your jaw,” I snapped, standing up.  
  
“Gods. That took a total of ten damn seconds and you barely know each other,” Tora chastised from where he relaxed against the cave wall. “I expect one of you to be the bigger man here and save it for later.”  
  
“ _Pssh_ . How's he gonna be the bigger man when he's even shorter than I am?” Daikon interjected while rising as well. “Thinks he can just show up and tell us what to do – isn't this entire situation his family's fault?”  
  
In my peripheral vision I saw Tora move in place, about to get up. However, before anything else happened, I slowly raised my hands in the air beside my shoulders.  
  
“Let me reiterate – bigger problems,” I said. “I don't know how you have so much against me when I hardly know you. I'm assuming you're a third-class, in which case you have a right to be bitter. But there's no point in all that right now when we don't even have a home world to criticize anymore. It's like they say: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. All we have to do is cooperate until we figure things out.”  
  
Daikon pursed his lips, standing silently for a few seconds. Finally, he broke eye contact with a grunt of acquiescence and sat back down. I lowered my hands and returned to my seat as well.  
  
“So it really is destroyed,” the woman began in what appeared to be her customary steadiness as the tension of the room started to cool.  
  
“Yes. I went there. Where it used to be.” I ran a hand through my hair. Without routine maintenance like I'd gotten used to on Earth it was growing out again, getting in my eyes far more often.  
  
“Your scar-faced acquaintance told us Planet Vegeta was gone. It seems he spoke the truth,” she continued. “Everyone assumed you had gone with it, if not before.”  
  
I turned my focus to her. (There was something unusual, something _different_ about the way she talked the more I listened. It wasn't a foreign accent or anything so obvious – she weighed each word as if trying to disguise something, like a cognitive impediment or injury.)  
  
“I left the planet shortly after defeating Broly. I stayed on my mother's home world to recover and train and I came back to all hell breaking loose,” I said after a moment.  
  
“Defeating who?”  
  
“Broly. I don't know the whole story but he and his father had a vendetta against my family and my best friend's. It doesn't matter now.”  
  
“I heard your mother died. Your third-class vassals, too,” Tora cut in, sharp eyes on me.  
  
I looked into the fire. “They died. Like I said – it doesn't matter now.”  
  
No one spoke for a minute. In order to clear my thoughts from the past, I changed the subject.  
  
“I'm pretty sure you all know my name, but I don't think I know all yours. You're Daikon, aren't you?” I said.  
  
The man in question gave a curt nod. I looked at the woman. She stared back.  
  
“Korravi,” she answered after a pause, like she hadn't been paying attention.  
  
I looked to Tora last. “And you,” I said.  
  
“And me?” he echoed.  
  
“Yes. I think you have the most explaining to do out of anyone,” I replied.   
  
Trying to recall what seemed like a lifetime ago, my memories conjured an image of me in the palace archive, searching for a dead man. The question unanswered had remained the same since then: _how coincidental could you get before chance became fate?_   
  
“You're here for a reason,” I said aloud. “You were there back then for a reason, too. I don't understand the how or why. But from one person who's supposed to be dead to another... there's no way any of this was chance. You're Bardock, aren't you?”  
  
The man seemed to ruminate on his next words, expression sobering before he gave a reply.  
  
“I was,” he finally uttered. “Tora died a long time ago. So did I – on record, anyway. But my life as I knew it was over nonetheless. It's been over a Half-Cycle since then.”  
  
“Hold on a second, back up. I have no idea what's going on, but are we talking about _the_ Bardock? You're telling me this weird old man is the infamous squad captain?” Daikon blurted.  
  
Bardock's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “This _weird old man_ has spent more time on the battlefield than you've been alive. And yes, I guess I did build a reputation for myself that's still around. Miraculous how much more famous people get when they're dead. But I'm not just Bardock – I'm sure you've all heard about Frieza's oracle.”  
  
“No... Wait. Yes. I think I heard a few soldiers mention something like that,” I said.  
  
“It's pointless to beat around the bush with this, but when I said that I saw you coming, I meant it. Call it third-eye bullshit or whatever you want, but to make a long story short, I was given psychic abilities and I can see the future. I can also sense people's intentions, but it's my ability to know things that haven't happened yet that Frieza wanted. I've been his slave for years until I stole a ship and escaped the moment I heard the news about Vegeta,” Bardock replied rather casually.  
  
There was a substantially dumbstruck silence.  
  
“Uh,” Daikon said, “what?”  
  
“Take a minute if you need to go through the denial phase. It might help you to know that I can't really read minds – not that I'd want to. It's bad enough to get vague motivations and less helpful than you think. And the visions get annoying as all hell.  
  
I took the moment to finish absorbing what he'd said and start asking questions. “News about Vegeta? What news? Are you talking about the planet or my father?”  
  
“Your father. The planet didn't get destroyed until after I left. Actually, that's probably a bit of my fault and your father's. But it's not like I didn't know what was coming.”  
  
Getting up from my seat, I strode around the fire and stood over Bardock.  
  
“Start explaining,” I said. “Now. From the beginning.”  
  
The man sighed. “The beginning's a long way off. I think it's better you sit down and we talk about the stuff that matters. Like how we're going to find the Namekian.”  
  
“Namekian? What Namekian?” I demanded, having more questions emerge with every new thing Tora – no, _Bardock_ – said.  
  
“The one who's going to lead us to Namek,” he replied.  
  
“Gods be praised, that clears things right up,” I deadpanned.  
  
Bardock raised an eyebrow at me. “You aren't going to ask why we need to go to Namek?”  
  
“I already know Namek's important. But I don't know what you mean by finding a specific Namekian to take us there. I came out here to find my father. If you can really see the future, you'd know that.”  
  
“Just because I have precognition doesn't mean I know everything. Or understand everything I see – remember that when things get tough later. And yes, I know why you returned to space.”  
  
“I'm getting tired of the riddles. Start giving me straight answers and I might start believing what you say.”  
  
“You want me to prove I'm telling the truth? Fine. Sit down and I'll tell you what's happened, what's happening now, and what's going to happen. As far as it's significant, that is. Because after all these years significance is the only thing that seems to make sense.”  
  
After pondering for a second, I turned back to sit again and listen to what he had to say. Even if he was lying... it was one hell of a lie to make, and for what reason?  
  
Bardock clasped his hands together, elbows on his knees and chin resting on his intertwined fingers.  
  
“I'll start with myself. And this 'significance.' My visions – the things I see aren't totally random. I mean, some of them might be as far as how useful they are to me. But what I've noticed over the years is that each vision seems to be a moment of importance for someone, some _where_ , in the cosmos. The more people it effects and the more imminent, the stronger the image. Of course, there are exceptions, and sometimes meaningful things for certain people are meaningless to everyone else. I'm sure you get the picture.”  
  
Everyone present stayed silent, so he continued. “I got this precognition after being sent to a planet where the natives had the ability. Me and my team were the only ones good enough to take the job... thought it was going to be just another purge. We cleared the planet in a few days, but I guess one native survived and I was... infected, purposely, with psychic powers as a last act of revenge by the people me and my team slaughtered. I was hurt pretty bad, didn't know at the time what had been done to me. My team got me back to Planet Vegeta and left for our next mission without me – wanted to give me time to recover, and I think – well, they knew my youngest son had been born recently, and I guess they thought I should at least say hello.”  
  
“So you did know who your children were – are,” I said, because _I_ knew who he was talking about and wasn't sure when was the right time to say it, or if he was already aware.  
  
“I know. They weren't donor children, if you follow me. I loved their mother, as much as Saiyans like to pretend they're immune to such things, so yes, I went to see my third-class newborn before he was sent away. Of course, that's when the visions started to come in full swing – I foresaw the destruction of our people at Frieza's hands and I tried to stop it. I took an attack pod into space and headed for his ship. By some miracle I made it aboard and into his presence, where I managed to convince him to change his mind... in exchange for myself.”  
  
I contemplated for a moment. “That's a pretty selfless thing to do, Saiyan or not.”

“I regret it,” he replied. The remaining three of us stared.

“I regret it because it changed nothing,” he went on. His expression was hard. “I probably wouldn't be alive today if I hadn't done it. Our people would've already been lost to history or legend, like the Metamors and the Konatsians. But here we are now and we're dying anyway and all these years have only shown me that we probably deserve it.”  
  
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Daikon broke in. “Look, I don't care who you say you are, but if you think you deserve to die so badly maybe you should've stayed with Frieza or whatever. Instead of, y'know, teaming up with us because you said you knew where the safe haven was.”  
  
_Safe haven?_ So did that mean –

“Most Saiyans are savages. It's one of the few things Frieza's right to call us. Saiyans are made for battle – always have been. But we send our babies away to fend for themselves on alien worlds because we were told to, based on a class system that divides us senselessly. We treat lives as disposable, even each other's. The results of these things, Daikon, are quite literally written on your face so excuse me if I'm surprised you don't agree,” Bardock said.  
  
The other Saiyan balked in his tracks.  
  
“You have no idea what you're talking about,” Daikon finally retorted, glaring daggers from where he sat still a little astonished.  
  
“I know exactly what I'm talking about. And I wanted you and the woman to come with me because you're connected to _him_ ,” Bardock said, tilting his head in my direction.  
  
“What do you mean by that?” I said. I'd never even seen Daikon or Korravi before today. Though the latter had said she'd met my father...  
  
“I saw them with you in my visions and recognized them. You're going to need all the the help you can get anyway. I'm sure the _why_ of the connection will show itself eventually.”  
  
“And what about him?” the woman's voice interjected. “What makes the prince so special?”  
  
Bardock closed his eyes and leaned against the cave wall. “He's special because he's going to save what's left of us. He's the one who's going to destroy Frieza because he's strong enough to do it. But there are other things we need to do to get there. And that is my purpose: to help guide the way.”  
  
“What other things? Why can't I go straight to Frieza and take him down?” I said as I pressed a finger against my scar; it was starting to ache again.

“Frieza isn't the only problem. If you kill him, you'll incur the wrath of his father King Cold. And – well, his other son Cooler isn't exactly cozy with the rest of the family, but he's proud enough that he'll seek revenge for his clan's reputation. The important thing here is that you can't survive taking on the three of them at once.”

“Are you sure about that? I actually crossed paths with Cold on my way here. From what I remember when I met Frieza, both of them seemed notably weaker than I am now. If it's really just the three of them...”

Bardock opened his eyes again and looked at me, raising an eyebrow. “The Cold family can transform. Although not the same way as you can. Y'see, the forms they're born in are their strongest and they're rarely used, with the exception of Cooler who learned to control it. These natural forms have incredible capacity for strength and are difficult for them to master – so they use lesser forms as a containment of sorts. Cold himself uses three of them. Frieza has four. And because Frieza knew about the Super Saiyan, he increased his strength over the years.”  
  
“Super Saiyan was just a legend as far as most other people were aware.”  
  
“Yeah. Except I'm the one who told Frieza it wasn't. When he finally believed me – proved my foresight was true – I got to be his punching bag. He wanted me to become a Super Saiyan to ensure he was strong enough to defeat it and he succeeded. Your father was wary because he'd tried to rise up against Frieza before and lost, and forced to promise you as penance for the rebellion. But a few months ago, as I'm sure you're aware, Vegeta thought he was strong enough to triumph this time... Unfortunately, Frieza got to him before I could warn him. I'm sorry.”

“Got to him? Does that mean...”

I had been trying to shut the dreaded suspicion out. I'd only come out here searching for Mom's sake. That was all. Why should I have cared about Vegeta anymore? And even if I _did_ care, which I didn't, I had every damn right to hate his guts. Starting a war. Thousands of our people dead, _him_ dead, as a result of – of what, his pride? Egotistical son of a bitch – getting himself killed for nothing. After all this time.

“Damn it all,” I murmured aloud, feeling myself slouch inward like there was a weight on my back.

“Yeah. This makes things harder for us, but since you...” Bardock drifted off for a moment. “Oh. Shit, kid, _no_ . As far as I know, Frieza's keeping him alive. Frieza suspects you're not as dead as your reputation suggests, and he's aware that you could be very dangerous to him. But he has no other way to find you except through Vegeta. Though I doubt your father's divulged anything. Anyway, you're here now and we can get the ball rolling. Rescue a few Saiyans along the way. Like I said before – we need to find the Namekian, because he's important and he's going to take us to the thing on Namek that's also important.”  
  
“So he's alive, then... And what's this important thing on Namek?” _Is he talking about the Dragon Balls?_ I was simultaneously trying to process every detail that Bardock was revealing and the relief that Father wasn't dead. I bit at my thumbnail as if it would help me think.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

I paused briefly. “I'm afraid I can't tell you much about it except that I need to be there... which I suppose will be after I get my father back. I can't explain why right now, but if you say we need to find this Namekian first I sure hope you know where to start looking.”

I was wary of mentioning anything about the Dragon Balls. My faith in Bardock was naturally tenuous, strained by my lack of knowledge about the man aside from what he'd told me. The other two Saiyans I couldn't be sure were trustworthy at all yet (although, they _had_ given me food).  
  
“What the hell's a Namekian?” Daikon interjected into the lull of conversation. “And, full offence – there's no way I'm going in Frieza's direction because you lunatics have a heroic fuckin' death wish or whatever. As much as I hate monopolizers like Frieza, don't think for a second that I'm charging in with no chance of winning against _three_ Ice Demons. Especially not to save the dad of some prick I barely know. Ravi and me were just trying to get to the save haven we heard about from weird old man here.”  
  
“So there is a save haven,” I asked more than said.  
  
“I guess you could call it that. It's not the only place where a large group of Saiyans could be hiding from the PTO, but it is the biggest. Or at least it should be. I know what the planet looks like, but unfortunately I forgot to mention that I don't actually know where it is. Or what it's called. I'm sure somebody along the way can tell us,” Bardock tossed out casually.  
  
Daikon got halfway to standing up before Korravi put a hand on his arm, tugging him back down.  
  
“You mean you have no idea where it is? That was the entire reason we let you come along with us!” he growled, looking like a trap about to spring if it hadn't been for the woman's grip.  
  
Glancing over at her companion and seeing that he'd settled a bit as if waiting for her to speak, she released him and took the opportunity. “If I'm understanding properly, you're telling us that you want to rescue King Vegeta. You want the Cold Family destroyed and to save what Saiyans remain, but we also need to find a rogue Namekian to get us to something on Namek necessary for us to succeed. And you need the help of Daikon and I because... you saw it in a dream. Is that right?”  
  
“Not a dream,” Bardock corrected, “but yeah, that's the gist of it.”

The woman rested her elbow on her leg and her cheek into her hand like she was casually in thought.

“It's the most ridiculous plan I've ever heard,” she said at last, sounding blasé. Her tone and posture contradicted the sharpness in her eyes when she looked around at those present.  
  
“Glad I'm not the only person who thinks so,” Daikon replied, nudging his leg against hers. She didn't respond to the gesture.  
  
“All the same,” Korravi went on, ignoring her companion, “Daikon and I have nowhere to go. Nowhere to be. I won't speak for him, but the life I had before is gone with the target the PTO placed on our backs. And now, the prodigal prince has arrived with the same problem. The most intelligent thing to do would be to work together. You have a face I think I could learn to trust, Prince.” She smirked a little at me, head tilted against her palm.

I wasn't sure whether her last sentence had been genuine, disdainful, or just poking fun but for whatever inane reason I felt my cheeks flush slightly.  
  
“Yeah, sure,” I muttered in retort.  
  
“Okay then. And what about you?” Bardock asked Daikon. The man in question was scowling.  
  
“ _Tch_ . Damn Ravi... I guess if she's willing to go along with this then I have no choice. But don't expect me to do you any more favours,” he said. The suddenness of his change of heart seemed to go largely unnoticed and Bardock spoke again.  
  
“Well, everyone's a begrudging participant in this whether they like it or not. Frieza will make sure of that.” Exhaling, he stood up, looking into the fire. It was starting to get low, considering we were burning scraps they'd thrown in a pile and nothing else, but the daylight cut into the cave enough to see pretty well near the entrance.  
  
“Now... Let's start with the ship sitting outside, eh?” he suggested, about to turn and lead the way out. I stood up after him. The sound of light rain reached my ears.  
  
“Uh – Bardock. I actually didn't come into space by myself.” I mulled over how best to do this. “I brought a few people with me that I think you need to -”  
  
“Later,” he dismissed.  
  
“But th -”  
  
“We need to get the ship fixed, kid. We can't use the attack pods left over and those two refuse to fly in them anyway for gods-know-what reason. And I heard you've got a halfway decent brain for mechanics,” he said.  
  
Resigning myself, I continued to follow him, but my mind went elsewhere.  
  
_**Gohan. You guys still there?** _ I broadcasted.  
  
The response was a lot faster than I'd thought it would be. _**Trunks! Where have you been? Where on Earth are you?  
  
Not on Earth, Gohan. Semantics aside, how quickly is your father able to bring you to my location?  
  
You want us to come to you? Right now?** _

_**Soon. As soon as you're able. Everything's fine for the time being, but there's a lot to talk about. I'll let you be surprised when you get here.  
  
Alright... We're still on Tech-Tech, but I need to round up Dad and Goten. You have no idea how demanding my brother gets when you're not around for him to antagonize. But jokes aside, it'll be good to see you again.  
  
Likewise. Let me know when you're ready. I'll give Goku something to lock on to. ** _   


 


	10. Chapter 10

“Can this thing even go lightspeed?” I muttered in what was only half jest. Standard lightspeed, of course, was a long outdated form of travel on all but the most backwater planets. Then again, this ship looked like it pushed the boundaries of even being space-worthy.

It was decently larger than the one the Sons and I had been using, and bigger than the one I'd stolen from PTO soldiers. Except unlike those two, this spacecraft was littered with dents and scrapmetal repairs on the outside. The design was also relatively angular in comparison with the normal round or oblong foundation most common nowadays, though the interior was a little less questionable.  
  
The rain had pattered lightly on the roof as we'd entered the ship through a drop ramp, which retracted once the four of us were inside. The corridors had been tall and spacious, enough to fit three people walking side-by-side, a few lights flickering on ahead at our presence. Korravi had led the way and he rest of us followed, and her path had taken us to the engine room.

I'd taken one look at the engine itself and wondered what value any mechanic had seen in its upkeep, ever. Hence my dubious assessment of its capabilities.

It was a quantum core at least, a deformed sphere that kind of resembled the shape of an orange without peeling. Except the device was nearly as large as I was, lined with steel straps along its side, flexible metal tubes protruding from the top and bottom and an angry ball of electricity broiling behind its glass-like confines.

“Ship won't start normally,” Korravi said as I moved to stand closer to the quantum core. She began walking around it to get to the other side. “We'll see whether you can really fix it. But if you tell me to try turning it off and on again you're going back outside.”

I smiled a little despite myself at the unexpected humour as I leaned in closer to the engine, daring to put my hand on the glass. There was a slight tickling sensation from the electrical polarity but nothing serious.

“I'm guessing this ship is yours, then,” I said for confirmation. There was no response.  
  
I stood up straighter so I could see her and raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer. When she merely copied my expression I repeated my statement aloud.  
  
“I borrowed it a long time ago and never gave it back, if that's what you're asking,” she replied at length. I noticed a slight lisp or slur was appearing as she'd got comfortable and started to talk at a more regular speed, though still a little slower than normal.  
  
“So it's yours,” I said. After giving the quantum core another once-over, I reached up to the tubing sticking out of the top and started twisting it off.

“You really know what you're doing, huh kid?” Bardock asked from behind me. “I've never seen a ship this old and I've done my rounds.”

“Sort of. I've never seen a ship this old either – the quantum core is huge for a spacecraft this size. But it's working, so I'm just checking my bases to see if there's an immediate problem that's causing the...”

I trailed off as the tubing popped out and I pulled it towards me. In that same instant, and alarm began to sound somewhere distantly in the ship and a big square light on the wall began blinking red. Korravi glanced at the light but didn't otherwise flinch, thus I assumed the ship wasn't going to self-destruct at least and I ignored the alarm.  
  
“That's comforting,” Bardock remarked at the noise.  
  
Adjusting my sword, as it was still on my back, I expelled a breath and reached forward to stick my arm inside the tube, the circumference a little under twice the size of my shoulder. When my hand touched something gritty inside I brushed at it, tilting the tube in such a way that the stuff started to fall out next to me, like silt. I summoned a minute amount of ki to my hand to melt it away faster, satisfied at having found what I was sure was a big part of the problem.

“Mineral buildup. The last time this was cleaned was probably never, so this is likely a big reason the ship won't start – core's blocked up, although I'm guessing this isn't the first time,” I said, turning so that Bardock and Daikon could see what I meant. I pulled my hand out of the tube and wiped my palm on my pant leg. Some of the minerals stuck to my skin anyway and I winced inwardly.  
  
“Truth be told, a ship like this is old enough that you could find things to fix on it endlessly. I could get it running eventually, but the ship my friends are bringing here makes that unnecessary. I know that because I built it, although we could still keep this one handy,” I continued. In my peripheral vision I saw the woman walk back around to rejoin the other two Saiyans.  
  
“You have allies coming here?” Daikon said.  
  
“Yes. We're waiting for each other's signal. I'll have to see what they say about taking you three on board, though,” I mused.  
  
“I think the smarter thing to ask is what kinds of company the Prince of All Saiyans would keep,” Korravi said, eyes on me. “After all, he was able to best me in close combat, fairly or not.”  
  
“I suppose you'll have to wait and see,” I replied. _Wait and see indeed._ An ill-tempered, heavily tattooed Saiyan who seemed to hate everything that came within thirty feet of him; a giant, soft-spoken warrior whom I couldn't read but probably wanted to get even with me; and a man who saw the future and just happened to be my best friend's grandfather. As if the already motley crew I'd set out into space with couldn't get any worse.

 

                                                                                                - ~ -

 

Despite its low oxygen, Pimien wasn't very cold at least. Even though it wasn't raining hard, I was soaked at this point from standing outside in it, waiting for Gohan to let me know when to raise my energy. It probably hadn't been more than ten minutes, but ten minutes was a long time when the weather was bleak and your new travelling companion wouldn't stop complaining.  
  
“Are you waiting for them to appear out of thin fucking air?” Daikon said louder than necessary. He had halted his pacing near where the woman sat on the ground, back resting against a rock as her gaze flicked around in apparent boredom. Bardock was off to the side, lost in his own head and looking away into the distance.  
  
“Yep,” I said, partially to annoy the tattooed Saiyan and partially because it was true. “If you point out how long it's taking every two minutes instead of three maybe it'll happen faster.”

“Maybe you should watch that smart mouth of yours, half-breed.”  
  
“You don't have what it takes to threaten me. Call me that again and you're staying behind.”  
  
“What, half-breed? That's what you are.”  
  
I turned partway around to stare at him.  
  
“Is the only reason you're this confident because your large friend is sitting right there?” I countered.  
  
“ _Tch_. We're not friends and I'm not scared of her. I owe Ravi a debt and the rest isn't your business,” he retorted, finally breaking eye contact.  
  
_**Hey, Trunks. We're ready,**_ Gohan's voice interrupted.  
  
_**Okay. Give me a second,**_ I said.  
  
I took a few steps forward, giving myself a little more space before I activated Super Saiyan.  
  
“What are you doing?” Bardock asked from behind me. I ignored him and continued to raise my power level, a few loose pieces of earth in the vicinity rising into the air. I'd become much more adept at controlling my ki, but I wasn't yet at the point where I could take it to the next level without a bit of fanfare.

My energy crested and I reached the second Super Saiyan form, a small crackle or two of lightning snapping around me. It felt like a good stretch, not having gone to my higher capacity in a while.

I looked back to address my new companions and paused.  
  
Three pairs of eyes were locked on me and I realized that even if none of them could sense energy, that didn't mean they had no awareness of the strength I possessed right now. Granted, Bardock didn't look as surprised as the other two, but I definitely had his attention.

A brief disturbance of the air sounded ahead of me and three very familiar energies burst into existence.  
  
“Fresh air!” I heard Goten exclaim. “Aaaaaand it's raining.”

“I thought you liked the rain,” I called, turning my focus his direction and beginning to walk over as I released my Ascended state.

The Sons stood outside the Capsule ship blinking around at the scenery, Goku taking his hand off where it was placed on the hull. Gohan and Goten let go of their father, but the latter noticed me first.

“If it isn't my favourite royal pain,” he said as I approached.  
  
“Here I was thinking you'd look a little happier to see – _uhf_ ,” I replied, cut off when he wrapped his arms tightly around my rib-cage, almost picking me up off the ground.

The scabbard was being pressed a bit painfully into my back and the bruise on my sternum from where Korravi had kicked me was aching with the pressure, but it was nothing against being reunited with the person I trusted more than anybody else.

He finally released me with his usual stupid grin.

“How ya been?” he said, tousling my hair like his family always did even though they knew it annoyed me.

“All over the place,” I replied as I messed up his own black mop in miniature revenge. It had grown out a bit, making me wonder how much time had actually passed since leaving home at this point.

“You look tired,” he said.

“Me? Have you looked in the mirror?” He did indeed have a little darkness under his eyes.

“Instantaneous stress just from being on the same planet as you.”

“Fuck off,” I replied in the usual fashion.

Just then, Goku and Gohan interceded the conversation, giving me their hugs and hellos before starting to ask questions.  
  
“Looks like you made some friends,” Goku said as he raised his eyebrows and looked behind me. “Are they...?”

When he trailed off I turned around. While the other two Saiyans were still waiting behind a little, Bardock had moved and stood only a couple metres away. But he wasn't staring at me.

“It's been a long time, Kakarot...” he said.

Goku chuckled nervously as he stepped forward. “Uh... hi? I'm Goku. Boy, I was gonna make a joke about hoping you weren't another brother I didn't know about, but it's kinda funny, I mean, you actually look a bit like the last guy.”

“Do you know who I am?” Bardock said.

“Uhhhh...” Goku screwed his face up in concentration, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “No, I don't think so. Sorry. But I guess you know who I am, so maybe I just forgot. I forget stuff all the time. Ha ha, I guess we'll just have to reintroduce again.”

Bardock pursed his lips in what might've been dismay. I could almost see the gears turning in his head. His gaze flickered over Gohan and Goten before his attention returned to their father.

“The last time I saw you in person was over a Half-Cycle ago. You were just a few days old and we were introduced because your crying was giving the whole medical ward a headache,” Bardock said.

“Oh. Sorry, I guess. But wow, you must be pretty smart to recognize a baby who annoyed you way back when,” Goku replied in half astonishment.

Bardock's eyebrow twitched. “That's not – Kakarot. I wouldn't care about some stranger's brat. I'm surprised Gine never tried to find you and tell you anything, unless she -”  
  
“You're Bardock,” Goten cut in abruptly. I looked at him, expecting his surprise, but not expecting the suspicion lacing his features as well. It was something I rarely saw on him and I didn't have the slightest clue as to why it was there.

“Bardock? Really? Oh wow, I thought you were supposed to be dead!” Goku said in a comparatively happier way. “Man, that's neat. And you seem strong, too!”  
  
“Kakarot, I'm here because -”  
  
Bardock was cut off once again as his hand snapped up to catch Goku's incoming fist to the face.  
  
“If you're my father, let's see how strong you really are!” Goku challenged.

Before anyone could speak he was volleying off a flurry of punches, pushing Bardock back several paces as he dodged, only for him to finally catch hold of Goku's arm in a sidestep and attempt to throw the other man. However, partway through the toss Goku grabbed his father's shoulders and tugged him upwards to throw him into the sky instead but Bardock was able to halt his trajectory in the air, spinning to face his opponent on the ground and fire several small ki blasts in his direction.

As Goku jumped out of the smoke Gohan and Goten and I moved back to avoid any stray hits that could come our way, the former shaking his head in exasperation as Goku flew a wide arc around his father to avoid more incoming blasts.

“Hey, watch it!” Daikon exclaimed from across the field, immediately after the woman had grabbed the back of his shirt to tug him away from an errant energy ball careening into the ground.

Once they were in close range of each other again, Goku managed to catch Bardock with a feint and, becoming Super Saiyan, landed a roundhouse kick that knocked the other man back to the earth not far from where I was, kicking up a small dust cloud. Goku then descended, awaiting his father's retaliation.

The dust shifted and through it Bardock stood relatively unhurt – but his eyes were bright teal now, hair glowing gold.  
  
“I'm impressed,” he said, relaxing his stance. “I would almost venture to say you're stronger than I am, Kakarot. You really have become a warrior.” He then released his transformation as quickly as it had arrived, and after a moment Goku relaxed and followed suit.

“Oi! That blond hair power-up thing might've been helpful if you'd mentioned it before, old man!” Daikon called over, marching towards us. Korravi trailed behind more leisurely.

“Oh, I almost forgot about you two,” Bardock replied.

“Saiyan survivors?” Gohan asked.

“Yes. The prince has already had the pleasure of getting acquainted,” Bardock finished just as the pair in question came within conversation distance.

“So you people are some weird, chummy family and that's fucking great and all, but I'm seriously starting to question whether any of you have the slightest inkling of a plan going forward or if we're just relying on the self-proclaimed prophet here,” the tattooed Saiyan huffed.

“Uh, I'm not sure what you mean by that, but we do make decisions as a group... um, whatever your name is. Are you coming with us then?” Goku said.

“I offered for them to come along, provided you guys agreed to it,” I explained. “It's just Bardock plus the two of them, but this one talks more than enough for everybody. I'm not one hundred percent clear how they survived, but I guess they teamed up with Bardock along the way and he led them here.”

“If _he_ does the talking, I guess that makes _you_ the muscle to back it up,” Goten finally spoke up, directing his statement at the female who had gathered little attention so far. All she offered in return to Goten was a blank stare like she hadn't been listening.  
  
“Do you not speak Standard?” Goten asked.

“I only speak Standard,” she replied, slow and clear once more.

“Okay. So you and your friend with the face tattoos – you're strangers, and we're supposed to trust you and take you with us. Bardock too,” my friend said.

Sure, we didn't know them that well, but it seemed a little odd that Goten would be the one questioning this. Unless he noticed something I hadn't. He did have a gift for telling good energies from evil ones, after all, although Goku had the same ability and he was acting fine.

Korravi seemed to mull my friend's statement over for a moment.  
  
“Fair enough. Although I don't know I can trust you either, even if you're as innocent as you look,” she said, smiling a bit. Goten actually blushed a little at the remark, although I doubted he took it as a compliment.

“However, I'm willing to work together if you and your companions cooperate in return. My life can't go back to the way it was until the Cold empire is destroyed – my reasons may be less noble than you and the prince's, but we want the same end nonetheless. That's all I can say to make you begin to trust me,” she elaborated.

Goten scrunched his brows in thought, probably about to respond before Bardock interrupted.

“Then it's settled. Now... I guess I have to explain this again, but before we attempt to rescue Vegeta we need to find our Namekian. Luckily for us, I know where to start,” he said.

“Wait, hold on. Rescue Vegeta from what? Which Namekian? If you don't mind me being a little skeptical about you, I think you first ought to explain the part where you're still alive and how you managed to find Trunks,” Gohan stated.

Bardock rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before, like with me, he started at the beginning.

By the time he'd finished, the rain had let up and I was left wondering again how much of it could be true. Whether it was really possible he saw the future – a future that couldn't be changed.

For better or for worse, I knew only time would tell.

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

  
Before setting out our new companions had taken everything they would need off of Korravi's ship and brought it onto ours, mostly clothes and more food. But for her ship itself, it wasn't like we could just tie it to our bumper and pull it along, so I'd found one of the spare capsules we had that wasn't pre-programmed for anything specific and put it inside. I'd been wary of revealing Capsule technology to people who were still mostly strangers, but they weren't scientists who could replicate it and nor were they in a position to steal anything so I set my concerns aside.  
  
Since our first task was apparently to find ourselves a certain Namekian, we'd agreed to let Bardock advise us as to where we should start looking. So far, we were headed for planet SE-3, which contained one of the largest cities in Frieza's corner of the PTO aside from his capital. We'd also promised to keep seeking the save haven's location, but it appeared as if our new companions would be settling in with us for the time being – so despite starting off on the wrong foot we offered to give them proper sleeping accommodations.

Due to the number of people now aboard some of us had to share rooms or beds. Daikon and Korravi offered to split a room together, Goten and I shared one as we'd done it plenty of times growing up, and the remaining three got their own spaces.  
  
The tattooed man and his not-friend didn't warm up as much as Bardock did as time went on. The latter would sometimes eat his meals with us and talk, asking questions about his child and grandchildren – especially about Goku at first, although I think he might've been starting to doubt the man's intellectual acuity.   
  
At some point during one of these after-meal conversations Bardock had asked, in a way that suggested he already knew the answer, if Raditz was really dead.  
  
“Well, it was a long time ago,” Goku explained, “but... yeah. He would have killed us and taken Gohan if I hadn't done what I did. I would probably try to handle things differently now, but it's not like I can go back and change the past.”  
  
Bardock pondered in silence briefly.  
  
“You know, he kind of resented me. Raditz did. He was born with a high power level compared to most kids so they thought he might be special. Plenty of people knew I was his sire, and I guess I was still gaining notoriety back then... He became a little less pleased about that when rumours escaped that I'd gone soft and fallen in love. He also struggled to get stronger – no matter how big he got I'd knock him flat on his ass every time we fought. The last I heard he'd been placed on a squadron with Prince Vegeta and his bodyguard. After that it was just the visions, until Raditz didn't have a future anymore,” he said.   
  
“I'm sorry,” Gohan replied.   
  
“Like Kakarot said, it was a long time ago. I'm a shit parent, anyway,” Bardock harrumphed.   
  
“Huh. I guess it's funny that you just happened to save a young guy who looks kinda like him,” Goku mentioned.   
  
“ _Tch_. They look nothing alike. And since this also seems to have gone over your head, that young man is an adult woman.”  
  
Goku blinked. “Really? Huh. And I thought I had that figured out.”  
  
“What's that supposed to mean?”  
  
“Oh.” Goku leaned forward slightly and pointed at the back of his head. “My grandpa – Grandpa Gohan, I named little Gohan after him – said I hit my head when I was a baby. He said I was really bad behaved before that but the bump fixed me. I guess it also did some other things, but I didn't realize that until I grew up. It's why I didn't destroy humans like I was supposed to.”  
  
“... You have _brain_ damage?” Bardock looked stunned.   
  
“I wouldn't call it that. Little Gohan read a bunch of books on it and says it's more like I just got rewired to think differently from a lot of humans. Or Saiyans. So one of the differences is that it's hard for me to know whether someone's a boy or a girl sometimes, although I've gotten better at it! Chi-Chi and Bulma are pretty helpful if I ever ask questions.”  
  
“I don't know what those two things are.”  
  
Goku beamed suddenly. “Chi-Chi's my wife. She's not a Saiyan, but can be a bit like one. She's bossy, but she also knows how to fight and cook and be a mom all at the same time, and she made Gohan and Goten. Bulma is one of my oldest friends – she's a supergenius, but kinda crazy. She's the mom of Trunks and his -” Goku paused. “Uh, _was_. Was Trunks' mom. She died on Planet Vegeta.”  
  
“The kid told me all his third class companions died too, but here you are...”  
  
“Ah. We agreed to keep that the story for now, just in case,” Gohan jumped in to the rescue. “Most people think Trunks is also dead anyway.”  
  
Even though the Sons and I had been omitting things rather than directly lying, I wondered if Bardock was able to perceive the truth with his ability. And if his visions really made him see significant events, there was a chance he'd seen Mom and Goten die or become resurrected and would know that way too.   
  
But he wasn't easy to read – his eyes gave little away.  
  
“Um... aren't you going to ask about Gine?” Goten interjected.   
  
Bardock cast him a look. “What about her?”  
  
“Are you trying to tell me she's never crossed your mind once all these years? The last time I saw her she was alive and well. I often stayed at her house when I was on Planet Vegeta – she's my _grandmother_. She'd talk about how much Dad and me looked like you, how part of that scar on your face was her fault. If she left the planet before it was destroyed, she could still be alive!” my best friend said.  
  
After holding his fixed gaze on Goten for another few beats, Bardock leaned back against his seat, staring up at the ceiling and folding his arms.  
  
“I wouldn't count on it,” he replied.   
  
“'Wouldn't count' has nothing to do with it. If you care about somebody the odds don't matter.”  
  
“I haven't seen her in as long as Kakarot's been alive, kid. She likely moved on years ago. And besides,” he said as he tilted his head away, “the PTO is targeting Saiyan women particularly and that pipsqueak never had the heart of a fighter.”  
  
Goten pursed his lips, about to retort when Gohan spoke first.   
  
“We shouldn't give up hope for Gine too easily. If you knew her well, you'd remember she can be clever when she needs to be. And who knows – maybe you'll see some vision that will change your mind. “  
  
“I'll let you know if anything comes up,” Bardock deadpanned.   
  
When Bardock looked away, Goten stuck his tongue out at him.  
  
  
                                                                                                    - ~ -   
  
  
The bed, or rather, Goten's bed, was just big enough for two nearly-grown Saiyan men without becoming uncomfortable. Yet. No matter how the ship's temperature was adjusted, space was cold, but stifling because you and the other half-blood a foot or so away produced more body heat than natural for a human was worse.   
  
Goten was awake next to me. I knew that because when he wasn't awake, he sprawled all over the place and had accidentally kicked me off the bed several times doing this when we were kids. (I was also notorious for not-so-accidentally doing the same in return.) We tried to keep each other's respect for personal space, but he couldn't always stop himself from tossing and turning. I also occasionally sleepwalked so I couldn't point fingers too much.  
  
He probably knew I wasn't sleeping either, but we didn't bother with any small talk. Being in space was different – silent except for the noise we made on board. I'd gotten used to how noisy Earth was, full of birds and cars and strange people and my little sister whose presence was ten times the space she physically occupied, especially the mornings where someone let her wake me up. But home hadn't been like space either. Space had no faint breeze, no taste of dust or ash in the air. It lacked the faraway sound of shifting dunes and the splitting glare of the midday sun on metal, or even the rumble of a distant volcano.   
  
What space did have plenty of was stars.   
  
As quietly as I could I sat up and shifted out of bed, taking one of the blankets with me. Even though my friend wasn't asleep yet, he was trying to be, so I didn't want to disturb him unnecessarily.   
  
I slipped a pair of boots on but didn't bother to exchange my tank top for something warmer, gathering the blanket up around my neck and shoulders instead. Goten didn't stir or ask any questions so I left the room silently and proceeded down the hall.   
  
A few dim-level lights clicked on overhead as I walked, enough to add some visibility without overly sensitizing my eyes. Still, I found myself squinting a little, torn between letting them adjust and not bothering to since I'd be back in a dark room pretty soon anyway.  
  
Nearing my destination, I rubbed my eyes. The control room, which had the largest window to see outside the confines of the craft, would have the best view even while we were in motion through space. When Father and I had been on our way to meet with Frieza, the two of us had spent quite a bit of time stargazing that way, with limited other things to do. Those moments felt like ages ago now.   
  
I heard the entrance to the control room slide open a few milliseconds too early in front of me and before I could register why, I walked smack into a solid object coming through from the other side.   
  
I recognized it as being a thing that had collided with me before and I tilted my head up, meeting stares with a nonplussed set of black eyes and the freckled face they were set in.  
  
“Uh – sorry,” I blurted, a little taken aback.  
  
The woman blinked at me, one hand grazing the top of the doorway to help mind her head. Her presence seemed bigger in the narrow corridor than it had in the open air, the room beyond her dark as the only illumination came from the hall behind me. I took a small step back.   
  
Clearly, she was comfortable enough to be exploring around, tail uncoiled. She was in sleepwear not too different from mine, although that somehow made me feel a little self-conscious, like I was the stranger on someone else's ship and not the other way around. I ran a hand through my hair, hoping it wasn't too obvious I was trying to discreetly tame the mess it was.  
  
Though I may not have been able to sense good or evil in people like the Sons, I hadn't gotten any threatening vibes from the woman since we'd fought. And since we were bound to be travelling together for the time being, I supposed I could at least be cordial. It wasn't like I got to meet female Saiyans every day either.  
  
“Sorry,” I repeated. “Didn't, uh, sense you there.”  
  
She let her arm drop to her side but said nothing. Just stared, without any particular emotion, focus drifting around my face a little and flicking to my mouth when I spoke.  
  
“Um. You – I guess you found the control room,” I went on.   
  
“Stargazing,” she stated.   
  
“Huh?”  
  
“I was just stargazing.”  
  
That hadn't been what I'd asked, but it did answer what would've been my next question.   
  
“Oh. Okay. That's... same here. I mean, that's what I'm doing. Will be doing. Being in space is good for that.” I then shut up to avoid sounding any stupider than I already did.  
  
“Hn,” she sounded noncommittally. More silence followed. Then, she stepped back out of the entrance, moving aside so I could walk through.   
  
_Of course. Fucking idiot_ , I chastised myself. I'd been standing right in the way so she couldn't go forward.  
  
I walked in as casually as my embarrassment would allow, thankful for the darkness.   
  
“Thanks,” I mumbled.   
  
She didn't respond to that either. Instead, she squinted at me slightly, paused, and then abruptly turned and left before I said anything else.  
  
The door closed a few moments later, leaving the room almost completely cloaked in shadow. I pulled my blanket a little tighter around my shoulders, shook my head, and didn't bother to try and make sense of the whole interaction.   
  
However, a thought occurred to me, and just to quiet my mind I moved further into the room to inspect the control panel and ensure nothing had been tampered with. But everything was as it should've been, so I relaxed once more and moved to find a comfortable seat.   
  
The observatory window gave a wide view. The stars ahead appeared to be stationary and the ones in periphery were distorted due to our speed, though none of our motion could be felt from in here.   
  
I didn't recognize a single constellation; not that I'd expect myself to. Just millions of bright, individual suns burning unfathomable distances away, ones that would go on burning until everything else was gone and they'd finally consume themselves.   
  
Everyone, including myself, was a mere spec in comparison to the mass and fusion energy of a sun, and the thought made me feel small. In a good way. Like I could just rest in my spaceship for a moment and not worry about anything, be a traveller passing by.   
  
The silence enveloped me, as if I was part of the nothingness between stars too. My father was out there somewhere – I knew I was drawing closer because I _had_ to be. I didn't need a fortune teller to predict it because no matter what, I wasn't going to give up.   
  
My father never had.  
  
  
                                                                                                   - ~ -   
  
  
I was awoken into a fog, still half-asleep, by a familiar beeping from somewhere in the room.   
  
My eyes remained shut, but I knew opening them wouldn't make a difference – it was dark anyway. _Nighttime? No, I'm... we're in space. I think.  
  
_ The noise continued, but exhausted as I was I resolved to try ignoring it. It would stop eventually and I could return to sleeping on the... floor, I supposed. I didn't recall laying down here specifically, but nor did I really care at the moment. _  
_  
At some point someone else entered the room, hopefully to turn off the damned noise before I actually had to get up and do it myself.   
  
The person let the door close behind them and moved around the room quietly, leaving the lights off. Their gait wasn't heavy and I was just awake enough to read their tranquil aura as one I knew very well (instinct would have kicked in otherwise, and I'd already be much more alert).  
  
They continued on to the source of the beeping, rustling around with a few things to retrieve it. Then, after a brief sigh, answered the call.  
  
“Hello?” Gohan's drowsy voice asked, awaiting whoever was on the other end of the communicator.  
  
“Oh... Hi!” he exclaimed. While he'd never been a harsh speaker his voice had brightened enough to be above a whisper. His energy was fluttering a bit too, much like a heartbeat would. So he was likely talking to...  
  
“Well, I was. I mean, I would've been up in a few hours anyway, but it's... ah. I'm not actually sure, I don't have my glasses... No, it's okay. I haven't talked to you in so long – I miss you. How have you been, love?” he replied to the person had must have been Videl.  
  
“No, it hasn't. Bulma's an excellent mechanic,” he continued after a pause. “No. Well, yes. I'm afraid I can't say too much yet. We've hit a road bump, but it's nothing to worry about. But that's enough about me. Tell me what you've been up to – I hope the house doesn't feel too empty.”  
  
Another pause. “And here I was, thinking you just wanted to hear my voice. You're so mean, Videl,” Gohan teased.   
  
He moved around some more, then stilled. “Okay... Nothing is wrong, right? You sound – hold on. I just noticed... ha. Trunks is sleeping in here.” Gohan lowered his voice some more. “Sorry, one second, I'm going to – yeah, I don't want to disturb him if I haven't already. He must have just been sleepwalking...”  
  
Gohan left the room quietly and aside from his muffled, retreating voice I was cast back into stillness and silence.  
  
But my mind had started getting busy so I shuffled my blanket and sat up, pulling the material around me. I didn't open my eyes, not yet; didn't know if I could manage it.   
  
_I should go back to bed. Properly._ It was too late to spare myself a sore back tomorrow, but I could at least reduce the severity by being smart and walking back to Goten's room. If he wasn't sprawled out over the whole damn cot like an invasive space flora.  
  
I wasn't sure how long I sat there, willing myself to move. Open my eyes. Do something. The auras of all those on board were steady in sleep, except for the contained fluctuations of Gohan. I may have been able to ignore my sixth sense otherwise.   
  
Eventually, I detected him coming back in my direction. I continued to stay still until he reentered the room, gait careful, and I opened my eyes to the darkness.  
  
He didn't say anything, but he was definitely there, and I squinted to make out his silhouette. I couldn't be certain which way he was looking, if he was looking at me, but then:  
  
“Are you awake?” he murmured.   
  
“Yeah,” I answered even more quietly.   
  
“Do you mind if I turn a light on?”  
  
“Hn... 'kay.”  
  
Though he kept it relatively dim, the ensuing bulb coming to life had me shielding my eyes for a moment.   
  
“Sorry,” Gohan said.  
  
I rubbed my forehead and looked at him. He was sitting on the edge of the dashboard, hands gripping it like he was worried he'd tilt right off. Hair a bit messy from sleep, but his eyes were wide awake. He stared at the ground and swallowed.   
  
“Um... how did it go with Videl? That was her, right?” I said.   
  
“Yeah,” he replied. “So -”  
  
“Bad news?” I didn't currently have the energy to make an incredulous face, so I didn't.  
  
“No. Just – uh. I'm sorry to bother you like this.”  
  
“It's fine. I was going to get up and move anyway. Are you... alright?”  
  
“No,” he tittered.   
  
“What do you mean? What's...”  
  
He breathed out, releasing his grip on the control panel to clasp his hands in his lap. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet like a secret he just couldn't hold in.   
  
“I'm a million miles into outer space and Videl just found out she's pregnant. I don't know whether to laugh or cry,” he told me, hand moving to the back of his head.  
  
I didn't know what to say. He sat there, waiting for a reaction, then upon my silence kept talking.   
  
“Yeah. I mean – we planned on having kids later. Y'know. A couple years from now. I guess it was pretty obvious that we were looking forward to it since we sure doted on your little sister a lot. Just our luck that this comes up in the midst of all this... although... I guess... I can understand if you're annoyed at us being careless, or...” He trailed off awkwardly, looking more unsure the longer he waited for me to say something.   
  
In truth, I really didn't know how I was supposed to react. Not because of anything to do with what Gohan had said, but because the circumstances of my own birth, and later, my sister's.  
  
I couldn't imagine what it was like to be a father. But I did remember that tiny spark of happiness I'd felt when I was first told Mom was pregnant with my sister, the spark that refused to die in the ensuing months no matter how complicated things got – until the day she was born had crushed it. It hadn't come back until five years later when I'd caught it from a little girl with a pair of eyes the same shade as mine.   
  
_If being a parent feels anything like that, then it can't be a bad thing._   
  
“Why would I be annoyed? Gohan, isn't this – isn't this what you've always wanted? To have a family?” I answered, finally finding my voice.  
  
“More than anything. But I just thought you might be – I don't know, you were just sitting there and -”  
  
He stopped when I stood and walked over to him.   
  
“Are you kidding me? This is amazing! Congratulations, Gohan!” I said, reaching out to squeeze his ribs into as tight a hug I dared.   
  
“I... Thanks, Trunks,” he replied, probably a little surprised at my open gesture, but warmed up very quickly as he embraced me in return. His metal arm was cold and firm on my back.   
  
“You have to tell the rest of your family, right?” I said as I pulled away. “Gods, Goten and your dad are going to be _so_ excited.”  
  
As if on cue, a small sneeze from the hallway reached our ears.   
  
Both Gohan and I looked towards the still shut door, watching it slide open as a pair of brown eyes I knew like the back of my hand peeked through sheepishly.  
  
“Before you accuse me of anything, I was most definitely not standing around in the hallway and holding my breath because I was listening in,” Goten said, shuffling the blanket he had draped over himself so that it covered all but his head and the hand that clasped it in place. “Also, Trunks, you dick, now that I have your attention, you took the extra blanket.”  
  
“The entire point of it being _extra_ is that you already have one,” I grumbled. “And you were totally eavesdropping. I guess you get a pass this time, though.”  
  
“I appreciate the lenience, Your Highness,” he replied sarcastically, “but what were you guys actually talking about...?”  
  
“Goten,” Gohan said, “Videl is pregnant.”  
  
My best friend opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then opened it again.  
  
“Like, _pregnant_ pregnant? With a baby?” Goten gawked at last.   
  
“That's typically what women give birth to, yes,” the elder sibling chuckled.  
  
“Oh my god. Really?” Goten beamed. “So... I'm an uncle?”  
  
“Well, not quite yet,” Gohan said, but Goten had already bounced forward to hug and congratulate his brother.   
  
“How far along is Videl? Do Mom and Dad know yet?” the younger sibling said.   
  
“Um... Around three months, she said. And no, I mean, I just found out myself.”  
  
“Wooowwww, this is great. This is so great,” Goten said, reaching to crush me in a nearly strangling hug in turn.  
  
“I'll get a roly-poly, drooling ball of dopamine to dote over! I'm gonna be the best Cool Uncle ever,” he cooed. “And you can be Cool Uncle's Sidekick!”  
  
I put my hands on his cheeks and squished them around. “Stop trying to throttle me. The baby won't be born for another half an Earth year or so, right?” I said, turning to look at Gohan as his brother loosened his clutches for a moment.  
  
Gohan nodded in reply, still looking a bit stunned. I pursed my lips in thought.   
  
“Do you want to go back?” I asked.   
  
“Go back?” he echoed. “You mean home?”  
  
“Yes. I... Even though I asked you to come, I don't want to keep you from being with your wife and child. I know it's important to you, and I also don't know how long we could be out here in space. If you wanted to go back – even if Goku couldn't take you, I'm sure we could arrange something, get another ship.”  
  
Gohan looked down, pursing his lips.   
  
“Six months, huh?” he said. He met my eyes again. “Then we'll have to find your father before then.”  
  
I raised a brow as he continued. “I do want to be there for Videl. And I want to be there to see my son or daughter when they come into this world. But... I made a promise. I may not be one of the stronger fighters here anymore, but I can't in good conscience leave you guys to handle this yourselves. Not when we've already come all this way. What good am I if Dad and Goten are here and I leave you behind?” he said.  
  
“Gohan. You don't – you don't have to stay for us. Dad and Trunks and me can handle it. And besides, we've also got our sour new grandfather and a couple of total strangers on board to help,” Goten interjected with an attempt at humour. “What could go wrong?”  
  
“Do you want me to stay?” Gohan asked, looking between Goten and I.   
  
“Well, we'll probably find Vegeta faster with someone actually smart around,” Goten added.  
  
“I can't ask you to do that,” I replied simply. _Because if I did, you're the kind of person who would, regardless of your own feelings._  
  
Gohan smiled. “Looks like I'm staying. Like I said, we have half a year. I'm sure we can find your father before then.”  
  
“Well if that's settled,” Goten began, “then speaking of father – I think he's going to be pretty happy to hear the news.”  
  
“Are you sure you want to wake -”  
  
Goten was already moving out the door.  
  
“Dad! DadDadDad!” he called loudly enough that I was surprised the whole ship didn't spring awake.  
  


 


	12. Chapter 12

  
Goku had been thrilled, to say the least. I kind of felt bad for Gohan after him being hug-crushed so many times at this point, particularly since his father had been the most enthusiastic about it by far.  
  
I felt, perhaps, slightly out of place within the family celebration, but as always the Sons treated me like I _was_ family. Goku had asked his eldest the same question about staying, but Gohan asserted his decision like before.  
  
Somebody had finally managed to find the time – early, but too late to bother going back to bed (or for me to prevent the stiffness settling in along my back and shoulders). A bit of preemptive anxiousness was already kicking in as well, since SE-3 wasn't more than a day or two away now, so the four of us remained awake until the ship's imitation of daylight activated.  
  
The Sons made bets over whether the baby would be a boy or girl, whether Gohan _wanted_ a boy or girl – to which he said he was happy to have either – and if he and Videl had suggested names at any point. (They hadn't yet.)  
  
“Damn,” Goten said. “I just realized... We have half-Saiyans, but we've never had half of _that_ before. A Quarter-Saiyan? A Mostly-Human?”  
  
He was right. It had probably never happened before. Half-bloods were already rare, for obvious reasons, between any two species. Saiyans had only been space-bound for a few hundred years and didn't hold the highest opinions of half-bloods in general, so the likelihood of finding others like us was already pretty slim. And even if some existed that we didn't know about, the chances that they would have children were also small.  
  
“Not only am I gonna be a grandpa, I'm gonna be a grandpa to the first baby of its kind. It makes me feel so old,” Goku said.  
  
“Dad, by the time you _look_ like a grandpa, this kid's gonna be older than Gohan is now,” Goten said. (He was right about that too – for a Saiyan, middle age rested around eighty Earth years. Bardock was probably nearing that, making him not far from Dr. Briefs, but still looked more like a human in his late thirties, so he couldn't have reached that point quite yet.)  
  
“Poor Chi-Chi,” Goku replied. “If I feel old, she's gonna feel, like, double-old. She found one grey hair the other day and got pretty upset 'cause I don't have any and even Bulma doesn't. But Chi's gonna be so happy when she hears about the baby!”  
  
“'Even Bulma,' huh?” I muttered.  
  
“Yeah! She's like fifty, still fiery _and_ she lived with Vegeta who's the same way, but her hair's still blue. It's amazing.”  
  
“ _Dad_ ,” Gohan groaned as Goten chuckled and I sighed loudly.  
  
  
                                                                                                    - ~ -  
**  
**  
“Alright,” Bardock said, “so we all need to be in agreement about how we're going to proceed with this.”  
  
We were mere hours away from entering the atmosphere of SE-3, the planet already within sight through the control room window. It had been a few days since Gohan had heard the news and we'd been trying to figure out how we wanted to go ahead upon reaching our destination since then. Now, the seven of us stood in discussion.  
  
I was already prepared – while I'd foregone armour, no longer posing as an ordinary soldier and not wanting to draw attention by wearing the set Mom had given me, I wasn't going anywhere without my sword. It rested sheathed with my hands over the pommel and the end on the floor. (Holding something also helped prevent me from getting too antsy, I supposed.)  
  
“Along with the possibility of information on the Namekian, my visions have led me to believe there are other Saiyans being held here on this planet. However, considering the situation, I don't think the locals will take too kindly to more landing on their doorstep. We don't want to be on the Colds' radar just yet, and I'm sure Frieza is looking for me,” Bardock continued.  
  
“Maybe I'm pointing out the obvious, but, uh, excluding Trunks we all look pretty Saiyan. Especially if all of us are together,” Goten said.  
  
“A big group will be conspicuous, but if we separate into twos or threes we may be able to pass relatively unnoticed. There are other humanoid species out there, so we only need to conceal just enough to not mark any of us as immediately Saiyan,” Bardock advised. “Of course, that's assuming you two are able to _not_ draw attention to yourselves,” he finished a bit sardonically in the direction of Daikon and Korravi.  
  
The former of the two was leaning on his companion the way someone would lean against a wall, arms folded and one leg crossed over the other.  
  
“We're not stupid, old man. And we don't take orders. You'll have to ask nicely,” he replied.  
  
“ _Listen_. Your tattoos might throw people off, but she's unmistakable. You either cooperate or you don't – I don't care whether you respect me, the Prince of Saiyans, or anyone on board, but if you're going to hinder rather than help, I can think of somewhere else for you to go. Like out the airlock.”  
  
“ _Tch_. Ravi and me might be outnumbered, but I'd watch what threats you make. Besides, you're the one who wanted us to come along with you 'cause of fucking destiny or some shit.”  
  
“Believe me, I would've left you behind otherwise -”  
  
Before another word was said, I raised my sword and then struck the point of the scabbard against the floor, metallic thud echoing throughout the room. Six sets of brown eyes were locked on me.  
  
“He's right about one thing: I don't give a damn what you think about anyone here. But in case you forgot, we're trying to save the Saiyan race, which we're all part of in some capacity. Our home planet is gone and none of us have any choice but to learn to rely on one another, no matter how you look at it,” I said.  
  
Daikon turned his face away so that only the side with sprawling tattoos was visible, tail swishing behind him. “I've never been to Planet Vegeta and Ravi's the only Saiyan I've ever known until now. So far, I'm not impressed with you or that sword you keep showing off. Compensating much?”  
  
I breathed in slowly through my nose and out through my mouth, perhaps gripping the pommel a little tighter than I needed to before taking the sword and setting it aside, resting it against the wall. “This isn't about me. I'm not ordering you to do anything. I'm asking. I don't know much about you. But if all you can do is talk to make up for your own inadequacies, then maybe you should stay behind and we'll get your _bodyguard_ to help instead.”  
  
Daikon glared back at me as he uncrossed his arms and started to straighten up. “You -”  
  
Before he could finish, Korravi reached her free hand over and placed it gently on his head. Pausing in place, his fire seemed to go out like a candle and craned his head to meet her eyes.  
  
Something unspoken went between them and Daikon huffed, returning to his previous spot resting against her side. She dropped her hand and directed her attention to the rest of us.  
  
“I've gone in disguise before. But that's not the question. If we find more Saiyans, do you really expect they'll still be alive? I've been to SE-3 and even then the PTO was all over it. There's no reason to expect any Saiyans that were here were allowed to keep their heads. And even if there are survivors, we would have to steal more ships to accommodate their escape,” she said.  
  
“... She's right. We also have nowhere to send them, since we don't yet know where the safe haven is,” Gohan added.  
  
They were both correct. The only safe planet I knew of right now was Earth, but not only was Earth far away and disconnected from the rest of the galaxy, we didn't know how many Saiyans had survived. Capsule Corp was large enough to harbour a few hundred people, but a few hundred angry Saiyans weren't safe for _humans_. And to top it off, Mom knew nothing of what was going on, although I was certain she'd want to help...  
  
_Maybe if we need it as a last resort,_ I thought, keeping the idea to myself.  
  
“We'll have to play it by ear,” Goten suggested.  
  
There was a brief pause as Bardock folded his arms.  
  
“So that just leaves how we're going to stay in contact with one another,” he thought aloud. “Which leads me to ask – you said you four can sense each other's energy?”  
  
  
                                                                                                      - ~ -  
  
  
We were descending into the atmosphere when things went wrong.  
  
Bardock, Goten, Gohan and I were in the control room, the others elsewhere in the ship still preparing their 'disguises.' Although I'd never quite enjoyed looking so different from normal Saiyans, at least it was now an advantage for me not having to conceal my features.  
  
Goten had put on a hoodie and toque to cover his hair, while Gohan had something that looked like a full-cover motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm (paired with his prosthetic, he could pass as some kind of cyborg in the eyes of someone who'd never been to Earth). Bardock had donned a cloak and scarf, which he currently had pulled away from his face as he stood looking at the ship's dashboard.  
  
Clouds had begun to pass by our window, green-tinted sky peeking through as the craft moved. Since there were four of us who could sense ki and three who couldn't, we'd agreed to pair up on that basis with one person travelling alone – whom we'd all agreed would be Goku, due to his ability to teleport. Naturally, a certain someone had voiced his complaints loudly, despite us drawing lots at random; of course I doubted anyone would choose him willingly.  
  
Thankfully, I hadn't gotten paired with him. That honour unfortunately went to Goten, although at least my friend got respite while Daikon was absent from the room. Gohan had gotten Bardock, leaving me with the one person left.  
  
Now, as we waited, Gohan had just moved to say something to me when Korravi returned in through the door.  
  
She wore a cloak like Bardock did, but also some kind of silver armour on her arms and chest I'd never seen before and what looked like a wooden half-mask, presently up away from her face. She said nothing and her eyes darted around the room.  
  
“What is it?” Bardock asked, looking back – then he froze in place.  
  
“Fuck,” he said abruptly. “He's gonna -”  
  
I was suddenly thrown off my feet with everyone else when the ship jerked back and to the side as if something had tugged it. Goten and I managed to half catch each other before we hit the wall, while Bardock grabbed Gohan and Korravi hung onto the doorframe.  
  
An alarm was already blaring as the ship slowly began to right itself and we regained our footing in confusion.  
  
“What in the shit was that?” Goten exclaimed as we looked at each other, then back at the others.  
  
“He jumped out!” Bardock growled. “That bastard blew the door open and jumped out!”  
  
I knew we had a second emergency door that would cover the opening if something like this were to happen, but the temporary surge of breaking the air compression had no doubt been what threw us.  
  
“You couldn't have sensed what he was going to do five minutes earlier, or I don't know, foresaw it?!” Goten cried.  
  
“That's not how it works!”  
  
“Hey! Are you guys okay? What happened?” Goku's voice interrupted from behind Korravi before he moved in past her.  
  
“We have a problem! Daikon jumped out,” Gohan relayed.  
  
“What? What for?” Goku said.  
  
“Ask _her_ ,” Bardock accused, glaring at the woman in question from across the room.  
  
Confusion laced her features while her gaze flickered from person to person.  
  
“Do you know anything about this?” Gohan directed at her as everyone stared.  
  
She stared back, at a loss for words. I let go of Goten and while keeping my ears keen for an explanation, looked around to see where my sword had been flung to. I'd left it leaning against the wall, so logically it should have –  
  
But the more space I covered the more I noticed its pointed absence from the room. Had I taken it back to my bedroom? No, no I hadn't. It'd been there, right there, not far from the door –  
  
“You've got to be fucking kidding me,” I growled. “He took it. He took my sword!”

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm putting this here to let you know that I've gone back and re-edited Prince of Slaves, for those of you who may not have seen the note I put up as it was only there for a short time. Some scenes and one more prominent plot element have been cut from the story, and the rest has been changed or moved around to a lesser extent. There are fewer chapters and many of them end in different places, but you don't necessarily have to start from the beginning again, provided you pick up on what I changed. Ultimately, I realized I could tell the story without it, and going back over everything helped a bit with the writer's block I've been struggling with. 
> 
> That being said, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and onward with the story!

“ _You're asking how I used my IQ of two-hundred and seventy-three to make my son a weapon from Earth's middle ages? It's a secret,” Mom said, winking.  
  
“This is... I can't believe you did this! I thought I'd never be able to have anything like my old one. You're the best, Mom!” I blurted, sheathing the sword and wrapping my arms around her.  
  
“Anything to see that cute smile,” she said as she withdrew, pinching my cheek.  
  
_ The memory passed came and went, unbidden, and I felt my insides coil with rage.  
  
“Come again?” Goten queried, putting his hand on my shoulder.  
  
“He. Took. My. Sword. I can't fucking believe it,” I said. Why, _why_ had I put it down? The one time I hadn't recapsuled it or slung it over my shoulder like always and somebody stole it.  
  
It didn't take having guts to steal something from me – it took having no fucking brain. That sword was not some trinket. My mother had made it for me and it was probably the most indestructible weapon of its kind in the whole galaxy. And that asshole had _dared_ to put his hands on it.  
  
Even an idiot could see that it was a powerful blade. Maybe Daikon had taken it to defend himself; maybe he'd taken it specifically to piss me off. If he'd taken it to sell at some later point I'd never see it again. After I'd already lost the one my father had given me.  
  
I was glad Goten was holding onto me and not the other way around because otherwise his shoulder would've been crushed.  
  
“Are you sure he took it? Is that the same one you sparred me with? It's special, right?” Bardock prompted.  
  
“Special?” I said. “It's something that piece of shit isn't fit to touch. It was a gift from my mother and it's the only one of its kind.”  
  
The room was deadly quiet. The only thing I could hear over my own heartbeat was Goten's, drumming away apprehensively. He clutched onto my arm like he could sense my anger and didn't want me to do something rash.  
  
I tore away from him and marched for the door, pushing Korravi aside as I went through. My beeline down the hall was followed by several pairs of footsteps.  
  
“Hey, Trunks! Hold on!” Gohan called from behind. I didn't stop until I reached the ship's main exit, shut tight with the emergency bulkhead.  
  
“Computer, override default and open the door,” I commanded. Recognizing my voice print, the computer did as asked and, releasing the air seal properly so as to avoid another surge, the door slid open.  
  
It was windy. High up as we still were, there were bound to be air currents, clouds here and there although the main mass of them below hid the planet's surface from view.  
  
“Yo, slow down buddy!” Goku exclaimed as the others all rounded the corner. I placed one hand on the wall next to the opening beyond, posture half towards and half away from them.  
  
My eyes went from stare to stare until I met the woman's.  
  
“ _You_ ,” I said. “I don't know what the story is between you and that guy, but you sure act like friends to me. You're the only one here who knows him so if you have any idea about what he plans to do, you'd better tell me right now.”  
  
Once again, all I got was silence.  
  
“Are you deaf? Answer me!” I demanded. I moved away from the exit and approached her, drawing close enough to enter her personal space.  
  
“If you won't help,” I said lowly, “then I'm going to find him myself, and when I do, I'm going to take my sword back and run him through with it.”  
  
She seized me by the neck and spun us around, my back slamming into the wall as her hand clenched the area where my throat and jaw met.  
  
“Trunks!” Goten shouted, but I stopped him in his tracks with a look. He slowed, halting his advance to help me, as did Goku and Gohan.  
  
Korravi held me less than a foot apart. There was no anger in her eyes, just uncertainty, like she really didn't know any more than I did. Even if my close-range vision was less than perfect, her irises were so black that I couldn't see where they ended and her pupils began.  
  
Maybe I'd been wrong. Maybe... we _had_ met before?  
  
I grabbed her forearm with both my hands and pulled myself up a little so that my windpipe was less constricted, although her fingers still pressed on my jugular veins.  
  
“If you help me find Daikon... I promise I won't hurt him,” I said.  
  
“And what's your word worth?” she answered.  
  
“Not only have I kept my word so far, what alternative do you have to believing me? The four of us would be enough to subdue you easily. And then... I'd go get Daikon with one of them instead, and I don't think they're as fond of him as you. Is the debt he owes you that important... to put up with him?”  
  
“He's not the one who owes me, Prince of Saiyans.”  
  
I was starting to feel a little lightheaded from restricted blood flow. “What does that mean?”  
  
“Trunks,” Goten warned in the background.  
  
“You have no right to hang life or death over him. Not while he's under my protection,” she said.  
  
“He... doesn't seem like the giving type. What makes him... worth protecting?”  
  
There it was: anger, subtle as her shoulders tensed further. “Tell me what makes _you_ worth protecting. Why should anyone die for _you_?”  
  
I'd never asked for that or wanted it. Had happened anyway – and I knew I wouldn't be able to bear it again.  
  
“Help me,” I said. “Help me find him. If he listens to reason... if he listens to you... we don't have to be enemies.”  
  
“Trunks, I swear to god! She has five seconds or I'm -” Goten began and stopped when she started to move.  
  
Rather than drop me, she lowered me back to the ground and released my throat. But I was wobbly on my feet and unintentionally fell forward a bit.  
  
And _then_ things got weird because instead of letting me right myself, I felt her arm go around my back and pull me into a snug embrace, pressing me against her armoured chest.  
  
“What in the hell are you doing,” I blurted in my slightly bruised voice, her heartbeat deafening in my ear. But just as I finished I realized we were moving, and I couldn't get my footing under me because there was suddenly nothing to put my feet _on_ , the doorframe going by and –  
  
And we were rocketing down through the air, watching the exterior of the ship become a rapidly shrinking blot behind us. The sun winked out from view behind it before we spiralled into a cloud.  
  
  
                                                                                                     - ~ -  
  
  
The green sky above was swallowed by a heavy grey fog and the sensation of cold water broke against me with a hiss. The woman was still holding me, still pulling me, but after passing through the clouds she slowed down and I pushed away before catching myself in the air.  
  
Looking around, I attempting to regain my bearings.  
  
Everything remained dark as it had been inside the clouds, except I was being rained on instead of falling through the condensation. Below me, an endless gridlock of indiscernible smears of light and metallic shapes stretched towards the horizon in all directions, seeming to shift here and there in what were probably clusters of vehicles and people moving around. Towers and buildings stood as tall as blades of grass from this distance, but the image was a thousand times bigger than Planet Vegeta's capital or even Earth cities I'd seen from overhead, so huge I felt already lost. The only thing that punctured my awe was the foul scent drifting up and around the sky, almost strong enough to taste.  
  
_**Trunks? Hello? Are you alright?**_ Gohan asked me telepathically.  
  
_**I'm fine,**_ I replied.  
  
_**We can still sense you a little – we're on our way down.  
  
Don't worry about me. I can handle myself. We can still stick with our original plan, except I have one extra person to track down.  
  
For his own safety I doubt he'll be trying to expose his identity, but he could still get caught and raise an alarm. **_ There was a short pause. _**Bardock and I are going to be searching for information on the Namekian – by the way, he says you'll find Daikon, one way or another.  
  
Duly noted.  
  
I think - ... Hold on. **_  
  
“Hey. We can't stay up here,” Korravi's voice cut in. “They have patrols monitoring the skies and will be here in minutes.”  
  
When I looked over she had pulled her mask down, floating several feet away.  
  
“Hey,” I echoed back. “Thanks for that little stunt, by the way – you could've made things simple with a 'yes' after trying to strangle me.”  
  
She turned her head left and right. “We need to go,” she repeated.  
  
And with that, she was soaring off again towards the city below.  
  
“Hey!” I called after uselessly. After a quick glance back, I proceeded to follow, jetting off at a pace just controlled enough not to lose track of her.  
  
Having rain splatter in my face the whole way down wasn't pleasant, and it made it harder to keep my eye on the woman, who appeared no more than a moving black shape against and already shadowy background. I lifted an arm up to help shield my eyes as we descended.  
  
When we got to building level the two of us had considerably slowed, not trying to draw too much attention. I caught up to her as she began to levitate down, and my feet hit the ground seconds after hers.  
  
I took a deep breath and regretted it as I scanned around at the district she'd landed us in. It wasn't as busy as what we'd gone overhead earlier, evident by the people who gave us passing looks as we'd landed, and not full of wealthy high-rises. Rather, we were surrounded by shorter towers and stocky metal shacks populated with dormant spacecraft and machinery – part shipyard and part junkyard. Local denizens tinkered left and right, trading and selling or repairing. The type of place Mom would have a heyday in, and somewhere I could probably lose hours myself, although it smelled strongly of burning wires.  
  
However, I couldn't explain the feeling that things seemed... subdued. Watchful. People were talking but not as loudly as one would expect. It was during that thought when I noticed the familiar armour-donned groups visible in the crowd; walking or standing still but there nonetheless. PTO.  
  
All were aliens of varying shapes and sizes, some humanoid and some not, and all had weapons. As I trailed after Korravi, trying not to stare at the soldiers more than necessary, I noted that a few of them had blasters I'd never seen before. Large and round, like miniature metal cannon guns, two-handed for the average-sized warrior.  
  
I took a few long and fast steps until I was at my companion's side instead of behind and cast her a look. She looked back from behind the mask.  
  
“Do you know what those are?” I said, gesturing with my head slightly in the direction of a PTO cluster who had one of the strange firearms. If she'd been on Pimien fending off PTO, or had worked for them until Father had declared war, maybe she had an idea.  
  
That prospect was dashed when she shook her head slightly, not taking her eyes away.  
  
“You can sense the energy of others, right? That's what scar-face said. Can you sense Daikon?” she asked.  
  
I turned my head forward and concentrated. As my sixth-sense expanded, the sheer mass of life the planet held was exposed to me like a crashing wave. Millions of sparks swallowed individuality into a teeming conglomerate, negating any chance that, unless he raised his energy, our target could be spotted so easily.  
  
“No. You two were able to hide yourselves from me before, so I'm not surprised. I was hoping you might know where he'd be likely to go,” I said, looking back at her.  
  
“He can't leave the planet unless he steals a ship. He... could have taken mine. But he didn't.” She pursed her lips. “He doesn't know how to fly it, but that wouldn't stop him.”  
  
“What does that mean then? He took my sword – why?”  
  
“Your blade cut me in my ape form. He may think he can kill you with it.”  
  
“So he wants to lure me out alone into unfamiliar territory to kill me, is that it? That normal behaviour from him or am I just lucky?”  
  
She chuckled. “Both. And there is a chance he holds something against you.”  
  
“You going to explain to me what that is?” It was safe to say that he wouldn't be the first person to have a vendetta against my family that I'd had no part in starting. I examined our surroundings once again for a moment, side-eyeing someone who passed by too close before turning back to her. “Is it about him being a third-class and me royalty? He is third-class, right?”  
  
“Not since travelling with me.” She waited for a response and when I merely raised an eyebrow, she smiled.  
  
“I'm a deserter,” she said.  
  
I stopped in place and she kept walking for a few steps before halting herself, gazing back over her shoulder.  
  
She said something else, but her voice was too quiet under the din of the machinery and movement around us.  
  
Deserter. Perhaps the only thing worse than being a castaway like my uncle. The name referred to a Saiyan who rejected the royal family, rejected their people and status, declared themselves apostate from their race. A deserter could be someone bitter at their king or their home, or someone who had abandoned their team on the battlefield and ran rather than face death. It was a title associated with cowardice and dishonour.  
  
In the old days before Frieza, when there hadn't been such a wide universe to disappear into, deserters were caught and beheaded. Now, few could be bothered to search the cosmos and hunt them down, but there was no safety for them if they returned to Planet Vegeta.  
  
By the time I'd refocused, the renegade herself stood in front of me, waiting.  
  
“You two are _deserters_ ,” I voiced, keeping my voice low to not stand out. “I knew something was off about you.”  
  
“Not wise of you to take us along, then.”  
  
I really wasn't in the mood for smartass commentary. “Makes sense that you didn't bother telling me before – having an allegiance to the Prince of Saiyans is convenient for you now.”  
  
Something distracted me behind her, a looming shape moving our direction. She followed my gaze and turned around before the both of us were shuffling back, moving with the rest of the crowd that parted to let the levitating craft through.  
  
It was large and hardly aerodynamic, but its slow passing made it clear that it wasn't meant for space travel. It was just small enough to fit through the street and more closely resembled a garbage collector than anything else. But once it drew close enough I could see that the back was exposed to the air, a pair of metal lattices protruding horizontally and generating strips of laser in the wide space between them like a cage.  
  
On the inside were people, huddling away from the bars to avoid being shocked. _A prison transport._  
  
Suddenly, I realized the place we ought to be looking for Saiyans was probably the most obvious one.  
  
If Daikon had really been trying to lure me out, then he would be more likely to find us instead of the other way around. We so far had no way to track him, anyway; but something we could track was literally right in front of us.  
  
“Hey,” I began again. “Deserter or not, I have an idea. And I'm going to need you to listen and follow me.”

 


	14. Chapter 14

Following the prison transport had proven to be more uninteresting than difficult.  
  
We'd tailed it for at least an hour, weaving in and around both crowds and buildings that were in plentiful supply. The rain remained in varying strengths, but not enough to completely soak my hair and clothes if I kept moving. Korravi walked alongside me compliantly, not often speaking unless necessary, though I could feel her watching me when my own eyes were focused elsewhere.  
  
The spare time had given me the mental space to think (at least when the stare being levelled at the back of my head wasn't too uncomfortable). Things still weren't adding up regarding the pair whom I now knew were deserters, including the one I was stuck with at the moment despite her willingness to cooperate for the most part.  
  
Her truant friend had to be either very stupid or knew something I didn't. Even if he was banking on the chance he _could_ kill me, which would have to be a miracle, what was his plan after? He'd have no way to escape the Sons that would try to avenge me. Did he even care about escaping in the first place, or did he want to be found? He'd specifically chosen to take my sword, and had also left Korravi behind despite the two of them seeming... close.  
  
They were different, all right. What kind of man willingly tattooed himself like that? And how many Saiyan women were so powerfully built, or spoke with certain weak consonants, long vowels and a lisp, unlike any accent I'd ever heard?  
  
I glanced at the woman in question. Intelligent eyes blinked back at me from behind the mask, as if to challenge me for staring back.  
  
“It's a miracle you haven't fallen on your face since you seem incapable of watching where you're going, let alone following our target,” I remarked, passive-aggressive.  
  
“You told me to follow _you_ ,” she countered in a way that was definitely cheeky and not naive.  
  
“Does 'follow' translate to you as 'glare holes in the back of my head'?”  
  
“I was wondering if that was your natural hair colour.”  
  
I narrowed my eyes. “Of course it is. You really are weird.”  
  
“Me? What do you call this then? Next you'll tell me it grows like some kind of plant,” she said, actually having the audacity to reach out and flip a lock of my hair.  
  
“Don't fucking touch me,” I hissed, jerking away while we walked. “If you do something like that again, I'm going to hit you in the face. And for your information, it _does_ grow. I don't have to have some onerous mane-thing like you.”  
  
“Some of us have to earn charm through our wit, Prince.”  
  
I felt my face warm. “You must speak from experience, being covered in spots.”  
  
This seemed to amuse her more than insult, but before she could reply her eyes shifted beyond me to the horizon.  
  
The districts around us had steadily gotten dumpier and unpopulated, making us have to gain more distance from the transport to avoid standing out. However, by this point we had a much more physical roadblock up ahead: visible in the distance was a large purple dome, formed completely by an electrical field. The vehicle had been headed right towards it. And what better use for a massive force field than to keep things contained, or to keep intruders out from both the ground and the air?  
  
“That has to be it,” I said. “What else would you expect to find protecting a prison full of Saiyans?”  
  
“Assuming there are actually living Saiyans in there.”  
  
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What do you suggest we do, then? Assume there _aren't_ and go on our merry way of aimlessly trying to track down Daikon?”  
  
“A prison break sounds like more fun than walking around with a scowling prince all day, I think.”  
  
“Scowling prince has a name that you could try using sometime.” I crossed my arms, turning to focus on the problem in the distance.  
  
We had two options: sneaking in or busting in with brute force. The latter option would probably be easier, although we risked alerting everyone to our presence. Then again, it wasn't like anyone would recognize who I was, especially if I had glowing blond hair.  
  
Could we get past the shield, though? I knew fields like that usually ran on a self-generating circuit, which meant they could take a lot of impact – like the ones used around spaceships. But they _could_ be overwhelmed with a significant amount of strain at once, or disturbed electrically. Or both.  
  
“I'm going to take down that shield by force,” I said.  
  
“Oh? No more sneaking around?” She put her hands on her hips, cloak shifting with the movement.  
  
“If you have any better ideas, I'd love to hear them.”  
  
“I'm never one for good ideas.”  
  
The periphrastic 'no' meant she was in agreement, then. So reckless option it was.  
  
I wasn't sure what my father would be doing if he were here, travelling with us and trying to make things right. But the facts were that he _wasn't_ here. No matter whether any of us were friends, deserters, or half-bloods, I was the prince. And if my father died, I... I would be king. Either way, it was my job to fulfill that responsibility in his absence, to protect my people. Therefore, if there was even a chance of Saiyans being in there, I was beholden to rescue them, survival of the strongest be damned.  
  
And turncoat or not, if I was willing to allow Korravi's presence, she was under my protection also.  
  
I turned back to her. “If I take down the shield, I'll be the one attracting the attention of any soldiers inside first. It's probably best to keep it that way so I'm taking the majority of any damage they might dish out – I can handle it in my Ascended form. We can bulldoze right through the prison that way. Can I trust you to have my back?”  
  
She tapped her fist against her chest in a mockery of a salute and smiled again. “I can keep it up, if you can.”  
  
“Hmph. Just watch,” I said.  
  
Without another word I blasted off into the air.  
  
Below me, the dilapidated architecture quickly petered out as I soared over, giving way to completely barren land. The long stretch of emptiness was only interrupted by the force field ahead. Inside loomed a massive metal structure, cold and jagged, punctuated by its sprawling width rather than having towers like most other areas of the planet I'd seen.  
  
The dome was much bigger up close. It covered a giant swath of the wasteland beyond the walls of the penitentiary, and halfway up to the clouds it seemed.  
  
I slowed once I was within a couple feet of its exterior, closer to the top than on the sides. It appeared to shift like light shifted on water while holding its shape. The rain sizzled off it like a thin mist. I reached out and touched it before retracting my hand at the electric crackle that stung at me, as expected.  
  
When I looked down, I could see the small area where the opening presumably was to get through, or rather, a transport making a trail from one particular spot on the dome's edge. Probably the same transport we'd followed here, but getting both in and out that way without taking down the shield would be tedious. No one had noticed me up here yet, but that was understandable, considering the distance between myself and everything below made it all seem speck-sized.  
  
I breathed out, letting my ki release out with it. Once again, it felt like a good stretch after so much time keeping it contained. I saw the shield reflect the light I was giving off in its ripples, but I wasn't going to stop at Super Saiyan.  
  
When I pushed myself further to the Ascended state, I could feel the air become charged with polarity, a few stray bolts of my energy sparking out towards the force field. The rain was dissolving in my aura now before ever touching me. I noticed a wind had picked up in the altitude.  
  
I reached out my hands and placed them on the dome while bracing my boots against it. The reaction was immediate – its energy seized and struck through my body, a show of electrical bolts flaring around me as I began forcing my ki into it.  
  
I heard, _felt_ it sparking all around me, attempting to rebound the energy I was pouring into it, though there was no pain. I saw the surface start to warp, only within proximity to me at first, then spreading in a wider and wider radius from where I was.  
  
A memory of welding panels of steel together when I'd been helping Mom make our capsule ship went through my mind. Of doing it when I was younger, in the repair hanger back home, when she was teaching me how for the first time. I'd done that with my hands, too, except now I was trying to tear something apart instead of melt it together. One would think it was easier that way around.  
  
Below, I could dimly see some of the specks had gathered, probably wondering what the hell was going on. I grit my jaw and narrowed my eyes a little against the flares of light and powered up even more. A slight numbness was starting to bloom along my hands and forearms. _The damn thing has to be at its limit by now!_ Indeed, it was deforming as far as I could see, like waves in harsh wind, bolts spurting randomly from it all over. Oh-so-close to shattering, just needing that one extra push –  
  
To my left a shape belted into the shield with all its might, whole body thrown into the blow. I briefly had time to identify it as the Saiyan woman before the force field burst like a supermassive water balloon, the last vestiges of its energy washing over me in a quick flash of light without pressure.  
  
The hiss of rain was faint now, coming only from my own burning ki. The prison stood unprotected.  
  
I turned to say something to the woman, but she was already diving through the air, headed for the impending battle. I flew down after her for the second time that day.  
  
The ground approached rapidly, and I struck mere moments before she did. I came down at an angle so that when I landed I slid in the dry earth, boots digging a trench until I came to a stop and stood up straight. Several feet away Korravi hit the dirt from free-fall with all the grace of a meteor, using her whole weight so that the ground actually shook and cracked beneath her.  
  
Before us, a gathering of about a hundred PTO soldiers waited, spaced across the region in front of us, eyes wide and arms ready.  
  
“Try not to draw too much attention to yourself,” I said only loud enough for Korravi to hear as I analyzed our frozen opponents. I didn't expect an answer from her and I didn't get one before I surged forward into the midst of the enemy.  
  
I was certain half of the soldiers hadn't even seen me move and didn't know what had happened when the nearest ones were blown back, offset from my mere movement. From there I darted at my first unfortunate target still standing, knocking him out with a single blow to the face. He dropped like a rock and I leapt over him to the next one, visually marking my intended path towards the prison.  
  
Not wanting to kill anyone unless I had to, and likely none of them were capable of killing _me_ , I restricted all my blows as much as possible to incapacitate my opponents only. The second soldier had it cut pretty close – I swung my heel from a back-kick into his head, feeling his jaw and more turn to powder before he careened away. I flipped over the shoulder of the third to drop my elbow on the fourth before swinging back and driving a hammer fist into the third's side. Five, six and seven had actually started to run at me before I summoned a ball of energy to my hands and blasted it in their direction.  
  
I stopped counting after that, leaping over the fallen or dazed people to continue onward. I sensed a ki attack coming at my head and made a sliding stop and leaned back to avoid it, then back-flipped to dodge the next two that had been aimed at my legs and torso. Three more enemies jumped at me and I sprang into the air, watching them collide hard into a heap. When gravity tugged me down again I used their backs as leverage to jump forward, right onto the next one whom I drove my knee into the face of. He was still coherent enough to grab my leg, prompting me to somersault midair and use his firm grip against him to yank him up and around before slamming him into the ground.  
  
I flash-stepped around another pair and used the element of surprise to simply grab their heads and smack them together. They crumpled in pain and I looked up.  
  
One of the strange cannon weapons was pointed right at me, a soldier wielding it from less than ten feet away. A split second passed before the end glowed like an ember and then flashed, launching a fireball-like projectile several times my size that swallowed my vision.  
  
Acting on instinct, I raised my hands and felt the mass collide, all sizzling heat and blazing light. But it went no further than my arms, unable to break solid as I stopped it in its tracks.  
  
I was surprised I could feel it at all, not expecting any PTO-made weapon to have the strength needed for such a thing. But despite the prickling where it contacted me, it wasn't enough to knock down my defences.  
  
I used my own energy to surround the blaze, concentrating and pushing it inward. The ball began to densify, shrinking smaller and smaller until I could contain the compressed energy between my palms as if I'd made it myself.  
  
And then I let it fizzle out, not breaking eye contact with the alien who'd fired it.  
  
There were burns on my hands, signifying their presence with the sting that still remained. Surface wounds, but I didn't dignify their existence by looking, instead continuing to stare down my enemies.  
  
The soldiers were no longer lunging at me. In fact, they were all keeping their distance, each afraid to make the first move. A few I'd knocked down had gotten up from the ground, and some of them had even started running or flying away.  
  
“Cowards!” one of the remaining ones yelled. “There's only two of them! As long as we keep them separated we can take them down!”  
  
“Oh, really? Since you're so keen on it, are you offering to fight the one on fire who we can barely see move and just dissolved that attack, or the goliath over there?” another countered bitterly.  
  
I'd temporarily forgotten about Korravi, expecting that she'd be holding her own. I spared a look in the other direction, just to confirm she didn't need a hand.  
  
I was just in time to see someone driving the transport at her – and she was running right back towards it, away from a retreating crowd of soldiers.  
  
The vehicle was massive enough to do some damage if it hit at that speed, unless you were an Ascended Saiyan maybe. But Korravi was not one of those, wasn't even an ordinary Super Saiyan. Several hundred tonnes of metal barrelling down and unless she was bluffing, there was no way that wouldn't bruise like hell –  
  
At the last second before it struck she jumped and ran up the face of the transport until she was on top, and then kept going until she'd travelled the length of it and reached the back. The vehicle slowed down, braking hard in an attempt to throw her off but she seized the upper support of the cage and held on. She then moved so that she had both hands on the metal protrusion and, with a flex of her arms, snapped it like a twig.  
  
The electrical bars zapped out of existence and almost immediately people were falling or jumping out the back, rolling into the dirt. However, Korravi stayed where she was until no more people were tumbling out – then she disappeared behind the rear of the transport and after a moment I heard a loud metallic squeal begin.  
  
I watched the transport unnaturally slow, like something was pulling on it, and then it simply began to heave up further than its normal levitation would allow before the whole thing was lifted into the air.  
  
Movement in the corner of my eye drew my gaze back to the enemies at hand. They still weren't moving to attack – in fact, they were rapidly spreading out, away from me and away from the former thick of the group.  
  
My attention flicked back to Korravi. She was partway into the air, holding the prone vehicle above her like she was about to throw it. I wasn't sure she'd be able to muster enough leverage in a base form like that to actually toss it very far, instead of just carry it, but I quickly rethought that when she tensed.  
  
The thing was sailing through the sky a moment later, over my head and then plunging into the ground some distance ahead between the prison and I. The shockwave it sent was nowhere near enough to move me, but any nearby enemies were blown off their feet by the impact and succeeding explosion.  
  
“What are you waiting for? Keep going!” the Saiyan's voice echoed over the wasteland. I saw her running forward several dozen metres to my left, prompting me to snap back into action.  
  
I flew into the air, the ground zooming below me as I adjusted my flight pattern to soar over the destroyed transport. I watched it pass beneath and then glimpsed behind me. The freed prisoners had long begun running the opposite direction, away from the scene of the battle. No one seemed to be pursuing them.  
  
When I focused ahead of me once more, what I presumed was the prison's main entrance was coming up fast, a relatively large set of metal doors sealed shut.  
  
I didn't want to blow the planet to smithereens – I just needed to get through the entrance. A sufficient impact of, say, an Ascended Saiyan Prince would be more than enough to tear the barrier off its hinges, and startle the soldiers I knew were going to be inside.  
  
In the last few seconds I increased my speed while crossing my arms in front of my face and moving my knees up so that those parts of me would strike first.  
  
When I finally hit, the metal twisted and ripped like paper in the swath of my aura and momentum, and I breached the threshold in a storm of energy before letting my feet touch ground.

 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive my minimal editing for this one! Hope you enjoy anyways. :)

I heard an emergency blast door slam shut behind me as I halted, mere seconds before Korravi rolled through it.  
  
“Almost caught my tail in that,” she muttered as she got up.  
  
“You could've just broken through instead of trying to get in at the last second,” I said.  
  
She silently dusted off her shoulders and then made eye contact.  
  
“Not bad,” she said. I realized she was referring to me.  
  
“Tch. I told you. You think being Prince of All Saiyans is just a formality?” I replied as I looked around, powering down to the first Super Saiyan level for the time being.  
  
We were in a very wide, very long and very empty hallway. Abandoned monitor stations sat along the sides, most nearest to the entrance, looking like they'd been left in a hurry. At the end of the room another large barricade stood blocking whatever was on the other side, decorated with a number code.  
  
“Hmm. Smells like they were just here,” Korravi said.  
  
“Looks like it too,” I replied, moving forward. My nose was not as good as a full-blood's, making it harder for me to pick up nuances in someone's scent that weren't either blatant fear or rage. I had already been thrown off by the sheer assortment of everything on the planet in general. But I didn't need smell to tell me if there were people still around – with my ki sensing I could feel the prison twisting with life ahead of us, a mixture of all kinds of power levels. My guess was that the soldiers who hadn't come outside thought they'd have a better chance against us further in. In fact, if I listened hard enough, I swore I could hear something distantly.  
  
As I approached the door I turned to make sure Korravi was following and saw her take off her cloak, freeing her braid as the garment slid to the ground.  
  
“Are you sure that's wise?” I asked after she removed her mask as well, but left the armour on.  
  
“It's cumbersome. And they're already trying to kill me anyway.”  
  
“Yeah, but -”  
  
“No lectures on being discreet when you're glowing yellow.” Another small grin emerged. I turned back around and did my best to fight the retort on my tongue and focus, placing my hand on the door.  
  
This close to it, I could _definitely_ hear something. Movement, or voices, or –  
  
“Something wrong with the door?” Korravi said over me as she leaned by and rested her large hand on the barrier, not too far from mine.  
  
“ _No._ I'm listening to what's on the other side before I just barge in,” I stated. I stared at the cold metal. “They obviously know we're here, but I imagine they're trying to lure us into a trap of some kind. We're probably best off going forward with the same tactic as before. Those weapons they have can't hurt me like this, but they might hurt you, so as long as you don't get too careless...”  
  
I glanced at her again. She was clearly waiting for me to either destroy the bulkhead or move.  
  
“Give me room,” I said, moving into place when she acquiesced.  
  
I reared my arm back and then hit the door with a single punch – blasting a hole through, enabling me to grab the centre and throw it apart.  
  
The sight that greeted us both as we took our first step in made us take a moment.  
  
“Look, look!” someone shouted nearby. “There's two of them!”  
  
A giant circular room yawned ahead, the size of a docking bay, lined all along the sides with prison cell after prison cell almost as high as the ceiling, a metal pillar dotted with lights and panels going from floor to roof in the centre of the area. Green electrical shields held the cell occupants contained, filling nearly all of the available units which now eddied with movement.  
  
The distorted murmuring had become a cacophony of voices, some of which I could make out and the rest too lost in the cloud of noise in response to our presence.  
  
“Where? I can't see!”  
  
“By the door! They broke through!”  
  
“They're humanoid!”  
  
“What are they doing now?”  
  
“Look at the dark one! Is that a...”  
  
I couldn't help but jump my attention from place to place, walking forward to get a better view.  
  
“Where are the guards!?”  
  
“Hey, you strangers! You here to bust someone out?”  
  
“Shut up! Are you idiots blind? That one's a Saiyan!”  
  
“A Saiyan?”  
  
I heard the word 'Saiyan' being passed around clearly now, among all the rest of the prisoners yapping in varying stages of curiosity, fear, anger, and everything else.  
  
Choosing a random floor-level unit, I ran up to it and locked eyes with the being inside – well, _eye_ , rather. Through the solid lens caging it I could see a very round head dominated by a single eye, large floppy ears on the side and a thin body curled beneath. It scooted back further in as I neared.  
  
“Hey, you! Are there any Saiyans in here?” I demanded.  
  
“Wahhh, I don't wanna get involved!” it wailed, covering its head and cowering away. “Leave me alone!”  
  
“Please, I'm not going to hurt you,” I said. The thing just wailed again so I scanned the surrounding cages in hopes another prisoner would help me.  
  
“Any of you! We're not here to harm. I just need some answers!” I proclaimed, looking around.  
  
“You brought that _thing_ in here! I'd rather stay in prison where I know I'm safe!” another unknown voice said.  
  
Korravi, beside me, remained silent, scanning up and around but not interacting.  
  
“Please,” I repeated. “We can free you!”  
  
“Excuse me stranger,” a soft voice called out, “but you're in the minimum security ward! If there are any Saiyans they won't be in this sector.”  
  
I looked up and around until I espied a figure waving its arm at me, several cells overhead and to the left.  
  
“Over here! I'm the Arlian!” the voice said. I levitated up until I was eye level with the cage, confirming it was indeed an Arlian inside. It was smaller and more slender than the other one I'd seen, bright blue and with eyes less round. Its delicate antennae flicked as it spoke.  
  
“Is that really a Saiyan down there with you?” it, maybe she, asked.  
  
“Yes. But she's not a danger to you. Do you know if any more are in this prison at all?”  
  
“I can't say for sure. But if there were, they'd been in maximum security. I wouldn't get your hopes up, though. I'm not certain if they left any alive on this planet. Actually, I thought they'd gotten them all _everywhere_ . War criminals, you know. Not like me.”  
  
“What are you in here for?”  
  
“Shoplifting.”  
  
“... Oh. Well, it's probably safest for you to stay here until we deal with all the soldiers, but I promise I'll free you on my way out. Just... don't go back to stealing stuff, I guess.”  
  
“You have my word!” she declared. “Please don't forget to come back.”  
  
“I won't,” I finished as I descended back to the ground next to Korravi.  
  
“We need to keep going,” I explained, spotting the next exit. “This way.”  
  
After crumpling the door and continuing on, our exit lead us into a maze of hallways. Unlike before, these were sparsely lit, a series of lights near and parallel to the floor washing us from below in blue, making the place just light enough to mind our surroundings. Once again there was not a soldier to be seen. I'd released Super Saiyan altogether and made sure to steer us towards what seemed the thickest mass of the many energies around the prison.  
  
I circled my thumb into my aching scar as we walked. I'd irritated it again somehow (though I still couldn't pinpoint anything specific I'd done this time to bother it).  
  
It was quiet for several minutes, save the dull reverberation of our footsteps, our breathing, and heartbeats. It kind of made me wish Goten was there, easy chattiness and all, because I was ninety percent sure there would be no conversation of any sort unless I said something to the woman.  
  
“Um... So,” I attempted after rounding a corner, another identical length of corridor stretching ahead. “If you're a... If you didn't live on Planet Vegeta, where are you from?”  
  
When she didn't answer I looked at her. She looked back and furrowed her brows.  
  
“I didn't catch that,” she replied.  
  
“Oh. I, uh, I asked where you're from. What planet did you live on?”  
  
“Nowhere,” she said.  
  
“Nowhere? You're telling me you lived on that old starship floating in space?” I said not seriously.  
  
“When you put it that way, yes. I go from place to place,” she said quite seriously.  
  
“Really?” I'd always sort of harboured a desire to see the stars, courtesy of my upbringing, so I was curious. Arguably that's what I'd been doing for months now, but either way not having a home to come back to sounded solitary. “What about the place you were born?”  
  
The hallway split into a Y. I glanced at both directions and chose left before continuing.  
  
“I don't know where I was born,” she finally replied. “I... suppose I lived on Planet Vegeta for several years when I was a child, before I left. There were other planets I stayed around longer than normal, but none permanent.”  
  
“But your – accent. You must have been _somewhere_ long enough to acquire that.” It wasn't from Planet Vegeta, that was for sure. “And... can I ask why you left?”  
  
She abruptly stopped walking. I halted a step after, reconsidering my prying until she spoke into the shadow.  
  
“I left,” she replied, “because of you.”  
  
I frowned, heart skipping a beat. “Me? What did I do? We've never even met, although -”  
  
“You didn't do anything.” Her eyes cut through the dark and she began stalking towards me, crossing the distance in a few long strides.  
  
The back of my heel was already near the siding so I stood my ground there, knowing it would appear like submission if I let myself be cornered any further.  
  
Korravi put her hand past my ear to rest on the wall, then leaned down so that we were eye level. Like we'd been on the ship, though clearly she wasn't trying to physically threaten me this time. Maybe.  
  
“Am I supposed to be scared of you?” I said. Being up close made it again more obvious that her concentration travelled around my face when I talked, kind of disconcertingly to be honest. I might even have suspected it was my eyes she didn't like except that she seemed to do this to the others too.  
  
“Am I doing something you think is meant to frighten you? Or did you want me to strangle you again, Prince?” She lifted her free hand and put it around my throat, but her movements were slow and her touch was merely that – a touch, resting over my pulse that I vainly tried to calm despite truthfully not being afraid.  
  
“My name is Trunks,” I said, “and I think I already told you not to touch me.”  
  
There was a pause. “Trunks,” she repeated slowly. “Is that how you say it?”  
  
“Uh... yes.”  
  
She dropped the contact from my neck. “Well, Trunks. I promise I won't touch you again if you won't ask me any more questions. If we're still allies after this, maybe I'll explain what you _didn't do_ . But here's a freebie to keep you off my back – the way I talk isn't a foreign accent. It's just how I learned. Happy now?”  
  
I crossed my arms. “Happy as I'm gonna get, considering your shitty sidekick stole my sword and you somehow didn't notice him sneak off with it. And did I forget to mention the part where I broke into a prison with a total stranger, who's asking me for unconditional trust and not earning it? You apparently know about me and I know nothing about you!”  
  
Korravi retreated, standing up straight.  
  
“Knowing my past won't help you trust me. But you won't get any closer to your father standing here arguing about it, will you?” she said. Then she turned heel and continued on down the hallway as if nothing had happened.  
  
I took a few quicker steps until I broke even with her gait. I did not say anything else until we reached yet another obstacle in the road – the end of it.  
  
Another big door sealed our way, embellished with yet another series of digits. A mass of ki swirled beyond it.  
  
"Here," I said simply.  
  
The barricade got the same treatment as every one before it, and it lead us into a room much like the previous one – covered in cells full of people, wide and noisy. This time, oddly enough, the total sum of ki in the area was lower than that of the last one. I soon realized why when as we drew into the centre by the pillar, the inmates seemed to be wearing collars of some kind. Presumably to restrain their wearers as Broly's had helped do, though they looked different.  
  
“It's the intruders!” someone declared from overhead.  
  
“Where the hell are the guards and why haven't they done anything?”  
  
“Are there any Saiyans in here?” I called out. “We're not here to hurt you.”  
  
I heard no clear answer and looking around, I couldn't spot any either. I wasn't even sure this was maximum security – my guess was that it was a middle ground. No sense in wasting any more time here, then.  
  
“Wait! Let us out!” a few people yelled as I headed forward to the next door. I made sure to note Korravi's footsteps were trailing behind me before I broke through and went on.  
  
The next batch of hallways were dotted with red lights, and there were considerably less twists and turns and ulterior directions. I jogged through this time without comment, Korravi easily keeping pace.  
  
When we reached our final coded door I slowed, but only enough to not go barrelling through when it opened of its own volition.  
  
“Well that's new,” I muttered as I crossed the threshold. _We must be getting close to the trap._  
  
This room had even more differences from the last. There were far fewer cell units, each spaced generously apart, and in addition to the shield and collars the prisoners wore cuffs. It was also much quieter as we entered, the murmurs clearer.  
  
“You made it to the end, boys!” one of the inmates cackled.  
  
“Shut it, Pho.”  
  
“You shut it, Macro! I've been good all day!”  
  
“Is this the maximum security ward?” I asked to none of them in particular.  
  
“You're right on the money, stranger,” the person who was presumably Pho said.  
  
“Are you looking for someone?” another voice asked.  
  
“Don't talk to it. It'll go away,” two more voices said at once.  
  
I flew up to where the first two seemed to have spoken from and hovered where I could get a good view of their cells. One held a seated, but clearly large bird-like being, plumed in royal purple and humanoid in posture, unlike any other avian race I'd seen before. The other unit contained a relatively normal sized humanoid covered in brown spines with a canine-like maw, who stood as close to the shield as he could get without presumably getting zapped.  
  
“You wanna come in? Cot's only got room for one, but we could make it work,” Pho, the barbed one, chortled. I decided against trying to ask _this_ one any questions and drifted over to the bird's unit.  
  
“Macro, right? Can you tell me if there are any Saiyans here?” I inquired.  
  
“I am Macro, yes – eleventh prince of the Skotosi Moon Triad. What a twist of fate, asking after Saiyans when I am in here because of one,” he replied.  
  
“So can you tell me? Is this the end of the prison, or is there more where they could be kept?” I said, seeing below that Korravi was searching the other cells.  
  
“Since you seem to know about them, I'll give you an answer if you give _me_ one. Have you ever met a Saiyan that carries an engraved, mystical broadsword, by any chance? It was stolen and -”  
  
“Oh, stop being dramatic, Macro,” one of the other voices from a cell to the right interjected. “Anyone here could tell him the old man is still alive.”  
  
I glanced over to the speaker within the next cell, seeing only two glowing spheres twirling each other in pulses.  
  
“What old man?” I said.  
  
“The one that is dying,” the orbs said. “His life force weakens every day, but there's nothing I can do from up here. We are all in this place for grave transgressions against the Cold empire, so perhaps he will be better off once he finally finds peace. The last of his kind, he says.”  
  
“And where is he?”  
  
“Down there. At the bottom, six units from the door on the left side. It is not empty,” the spheres finished.  
  
I thanked the being and dropped down to where it had specified. Korravi crossed the room on foot behind me as I neared the cell, staring hard inside.  
  
Something was lying in the corner. The tint of the shield made it hard to distinguish clearly, but I felt a jolt go through me when I saw a mop of white hair on one end and a dark tail on the other.  
  
Quickly examining the outer perimeter of the containment unit, I noticed the small input pad next to it on one side. I darted over to it, decided I wasn't smart enough to hack it open and crushed it with a well-aimed set of knuckles.  
  
Like I'd hoped, the shield flickered away, though an insistent alarm started up from the central pillar at our backs. I ignored it and moved into the cell.  
  
Korravi got to the old man first. With surprising gentleness, she knelt down and put her hand on his forehead, not daring to move him yet while I knelt beside her.  
  
“What...” croaked the man like an exhume of dust. “What do you... want now?”  
  
“We're not going to hurt you,” I repeated for the umpteenth time that day. The man's face came into view when Korravi shifted.  
  
His hair was white as snow, his eyes half lidded and face so creased with age and stress that I was worried he'd break when my companion propped him more upright against her leg. He was thin as a blade of grass and didn't look capable of standing, much less sitting by himself.  
  
“I'm the Prince of Saiyans,” I said quietly. “I'm here to get you out. Can you tell us your name?”  
  
The man opened his eyes a little more. He looked at me, blinked a few times, then seemed to focus.  
  
“Prince...” he managed to say with more success. “Gods above.” His eyes shifted up to the woman, trying to discern who was holding him.  
  
“We're here to help,” she said.  
  
“Are you... a woman? You are, aren't you...?” he rattled out. “They said they killed them all. They... said the royal family was dust. Great gods... the Prince of Saiyans and the last woman alive have come to rescue me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse me while I geek out but have y'all seen the trailer for the new Broly movie? It seems like they're retcon-ing the Z movies with him in it and canonizing the new version to tie in with Super, but regardless I'm kind of interested to see where it goes. (Also is Frieza just permanently dicking around with the Z Warriors now or...?)


	16. Chapter 16

Korravi cradled the old man in her arms as she followed me. We'd been able to snap his collar easily (he wore no cuffs like the others), but his ki didn't spring back much. I did my best to give him a few brief explanations for the situation as he inquired.  
  
“How... did you know I was here? How did you... survive the attack on our planet?” he continued, two of his many questions.  
  
“We actually weren't sure you were here. The rest is a long story – too much to explain now, but I promise I'll tell you what I know once we're out of here. For now, you should save your energy,” I said.  
  
“We've met... before. I was a c - ... council member. That's why they let me... live. Information... Not surprised... you can't remember me like this.”  
  
“Please try to conserve your energy,” I repeated. “We may have a way to bring you back to full health, but we also need you to make it there.” It was true that I didn't recognize him, but if he was able to mention a specific time it might have jogged my memory. Provided he stayed in one piece long enough to talk to us.  
  
_**Gohan, are you there?** _ I sent out, hoping the half-blood in question would still be with his father. Goku usually carried the senzu beans, unless they'd left them on the probably capsulized ship.  
  
“You... woman... To have survived alongside the prince... Are you... Royal Guard?” the old man kept trying.  
  
I couldn't hear either her or Gohan answer, but I could hear the prisoners yelling down when they noticed us preparing to leave.  
  
“Hey, aren't you gonna free us too?” one of them called. “You'd save a couple of Saiyans but not us? Come on, we helped you!”  
  
Truthfully, I wasn't sure whether or not to free these inmates. Some of them could be wrongly imprisoned by the PTO, but some could very well be dangerous. I had no way of knowing –  
  
The entrances on both sides of the room burst open. In flooded more soldiers at long last, a stream that didn't end until the three of us were encircled where we stood by the room's centre spire. I felt Korravi bump into my back.  
  
A large orange-skinned alien with a fanged underbite stepped out from the rest of the soldiers closer to my side, heavily armoured.  
  
“So, is that all you wanted? A useless Saiyan barely clinging to life?” he rumbled. I said nothing, so he went on.  
  
“I'm the warden of this prison, so as little of a thing you've expended all this effort to get, I can't let you leave with it. You have incredible power, yes, but we've reactivated the shield and you won't escape before reinforcements arrive. But this doesn't have to be settled with more violence. If you return the prisoner and give us that other Saiyan with you, we'll let you walk out of here without trouble. Reward you, even – the PTO knows when to cut its losses and negotiate civilly.”  
  
“You act like you're in any place to make demands. These people aren't up for barter,” I stated.  
  
“We couldn't help but notice that you didn't kill any of our soldiers. How are you planning to keep your prisoner unharmed without killing any of us? You are vastly outnumbered and soon the whole planet will be made aware of your presence!”  
  
“You're right – the two of us on the hundreds of you aren't fair odds. Maybe you should bring the rest of the planet's reinforcements, because if _you_ couldn't help but notice you're vastly outmatched.”  
  
The warden spoke more, but I set his words aside to think. He was correct that the shield would slow us down a little. It would also be harder to fight while having to keep an eye on the old man, or on Korravi being weighed down by him.  
  
“I have an idea,” I said to her.  
  
She didn't respond. In fact, she didn't seem to be paying attention to me at all, focused on the enemies ringing us. Ignoring again – like she really wasn't hearing me standing right behind her.  
  
Was the slightest acknowledgement too much to ask for when I talked? Nothing I could see of her face reacted to my voice, nothing in her posture, though I could feel her back muscles shifting minutely whenever I myself shifted against them. _She's reacting to what I do, but nothing I say aloud is getting through? It's like every time I'm not in her field of vision she can't –_  
  
_Wait_.  
  
I could see the soldiers beginning to creep in from the corner of my vision, but I ignored it, turning to put my hand on the woman's arm. She finally titled her head enough to meet my eyes. Waiting, watching my face. Reading it.  
  
_No way._  
  
I must have had shock plastered all over me because she was almost facing me now.  
  
“What's wrong?” she said. “We shouldn't have a problem with them, but you're going to have to take the brunt of it unless you want to hold him.”  
  
“Face me,” I told her. She did so, looking perplexed. I could hear the warden in the background attempting to egg his soldiers on and not be afraid of us. The inmates were making noise too, all clamorous distractions that didn't register anywhere in her expression.  
  
“What's the plan?” she said, eyes flicking back and forth between me and the soldiers advancing behind. “Why are you just...?”  
  
I glanced at the towering spire. There had been one in every room, so they had to be important. I looked back at her.  
  
“Trust me,” I said, and then I acted, all within the span of a few seconds.  
  
I became a Super Saiyan and levitated up to wrap my arm around her – making sure the old man was carefully sheltered between us – before I used my free arm to summon my ki and blast a hole that went right through the spire and through the roof. The whole room flickered as the explosion crackled along the pillar but I didn't stay long enough to see the fruits of my wager, securing my grip on my companions before tugging them with me to shoot up through the ceiling.  
  
  
                                                                                                       - ~ -  
  
  
How had I not noticed she couldn't hear?  
  
All this time, those things I'd thought of as mere eccentricities – had she been reading our lips and expressions? Was that even possible to keep up? It must've been why – ! She couldn't pretend to make eye contact up close, didn't use my name because she hadn't been sure what it was, didn't answer questions when she couldn't _hear_ them.  
  
There were Saiyans who lost eyes or limbs or took permanent injury in battle. But it could often be seen as a sign of weakness, a sign of not being strong enough to have avoided it. And it was certainly not acceptable to be born that way. One might as well be a half-blood.  
  
Damn it all, I'd been so oblivious.  
  
When I felt the impact of the roof crumble away and clear wind rush through my hair from our speed, I slowed and pulled back, the three of us uncurling. Beyond us the clouds were once again cloaked with the purple veil of the shield – one pillar clearly wasn't enough to sever the power to the entire complex.  
  
The old man opened his eyes, unbracing himself.  
  
“Your hair,” he said. “Your eyes. You really can...”  
  
“Yeah. I can. But we're not out of the woods yet. We still need to get back through the shield,” I told him, refocusing my attention to Korravi.  
  
Right on cue, a piece of rubble fell out of her hair, emphasizing the displeased expression she wore.  
  
“Maybe a warning next time you barrel me through a roof,” she said.  
  
“Well now we're even,” I replied. I was burning to ask – confirm that she was deaf. It was obvious now that she was trying to disguise that she was lip-reading, that it was where her eyes kept going back to, but I didn't know if she wanted to keep it secret. The old man was right there, and below us a few soldiers were starting to come through the holes I'd left.  
  
On second glance, I could see flashes of light and hear more explosions. It looked like the prisoners of the maximum security ward had been freed and were wreaking havoc on their captors.  
  
_Shit – I forgot to free the others!_  
  
“Korravi, I need to go back and let the rest of the prisoners out. Can you take down the shield?” I asked.  
  
She pursed her lips. “You'll be able to do it faster. You take the old man, I'll go back.”  
  
When she held her arms out I reached back instinctively, but hesitated. “No, I – I think I should do it. If you don't have anyone watching your back during a fight, maybe you – it might not be safe.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Becau -” I stopped myself from blurting it out. _But how would my sudden realization change her ability to fight, anyway? She was deaf before I knew, so she's clearly developed her own way to navigate combat._  
  
She gave me a look, then dumped her cargo into my hands.  
  
“If you get the shield down before I'm back, just go. I'll catch up with you,” she said, and then she soared off.  
  
After muttering an apology to the old man as I adjusted to hold him with one arm, I flew up to the shield and set my free hand on it. I pressed my ki out once more, faster than last time while being careful not to accidentally fry the person hanging on to me. I wasn't sure I could manage that if I used the Ascended State again, but this would definitely take me longer as only a first-level Super Saiyan.  
  
I'd been hovering there for less than a minute when an energy blast narrowly missed me and struck the shield to my side. I whirled around just in time to see another incoming attack, this one from one of the cannon weapons. The blaze was quickly swallowing everything in my view so I took a risk.  
  
In a flash I Ascended and curved my body around to hopefully take the majority of the hit. Everything went blinding yellow for a moment and a hot tickle raced over my skin, but there was no real pain. I thought I heard someone cry out but the explosion ringing in my ears made it hard to be sure.  
  
When the flash dissipated I raised my free hand and set loose an onslaught of my own ki haphazardly in the direction of my attackers. Still facing them, I used the precious seconds I'd bought and mustered the biggest energy sphere I could – larger than my body, which was large enough – and after making sure the soldiers below were fleeing I quickly swivelled in place and launched it at the shield.  
  
The shell bubbled and seized where the blast had hit, and in that moment I hurtled forward into the vulnerable spot and struck it shoulder-first.  
  
I felt myself break through instantly and the background crackling ceased, replaced once more by the hissing of raindrops on my aura.  
  
I glanced down at the old man to make sure he was still in one piece, huddled against me, and then looked back down at the prison. Korravi was nowhere to be seen yet, but the complex was a mess of detonating attacks and people were streaming out everywhere. Most of the soldiers were occupied or appeared to be fleeing now that the shield was down.  
  
There was nothing left to do but speed off and get the rescued Saiyan somewhere safe for the time being.  
  
I powered down and took off into the sky, heading for the abandoned edifices at the city limits. More thundering sounds echoed behind me, some strong enough to be felt through my bones despite being airborne. There was no way the ruckus wasn't attracting anyone's attention.  
  
When I looked back again, Korravi still wasn't there.  
  
Finally, the lifeless ground gave way to the old architecture and I angled down towards the nearest few. I stifled my speed just before touching ground and selected one of the open buildings at random before moving inside.  
  
The room was dark and completely empty. I glimpsed around it quickly before moving to the closest wall and kneeling down.  
  
“Sorry. Are you able to wait here for a few minutes? I'm going to go back and give her a hand,” I explained, setting him on the ground without releasing his upper body yet. A hissing escaped his teeth as soon as a shifted him and I paused.  
  
The scarce lighting was enough to reflect a strange glisten along his body, on the front and left side all the way up to his shoulder at the same time a very wrong smell hit my nose.  
  
Burns. He was burned.  
  
“Oh _shit_ _._ Oh no,” I exhaled.  
  
“Don't... ngh. Not... dead yet,” he gasped out, cracking an eye open to look at me.

Had I done this to him? There was no way I could've done it, not to such an extent – I had more control over the Ascended State than that! His left side had been exposed to the cannon fire, but the burns on the front of his torso – what if I –  
  
“Just – just stay – stay calm,” I said. While trying to jostle him as little as possible, I moved so that my right hand was on the centre of his back, and gently fed some of my ki into him. He winced but otherwise didn't move, tail laying limp next to him.  
  
“You... should go,” he said. “That woman... more important... than me.”  
  
I mentally tried to signal Gohan again, to no success. “I'm sorry – I can't heal you. This is all I can do until we get back to the others.”  
  
“Others,” he said.  
  
“Yeah. There are seven of us. I mean, one ran off here somewhere, but we're going to find him. We're going to find the rest of the survivors.”  
  
He blinked at me, slowly. “You need to make sure... the ones you brought with you... live first.”  
  
I gently moved him again so that he was resting on the ground and I slid my hands away before standing.  
  
“Stay alive,” I instructed. “I'm going to make sure that woman's alright. We'll come right back here to get you, but you need to stay alive until then.”  
  
“Hmph. Have a little more faith... in an old man than that,” he replied. “When you return, I'll tell you... I'll tell you everything I know.”  
  
I nodded at him once, then was back out the door and into the air.  
  
In the distance, Korravi's ki – I was sure it was hers – was expanded, startlingly almost. When I first felt it, a bolt of adrenaline had gone through me; I could've sworn she was edging on Super Saiyan. There was only one person I'd ever seen not in my or the Son family who could do that.

But Korravi _wasn't_ a Super Saiyan. Her aura didn't have that dense, burning sensation to it. It made it hard to compare the size, but I supposed it was almost on par. Which didn't make any sense because every Saiyan I'd known that had achieved the transformation had done it around the same point in strength.  
  
In any case, people this strong didn't mysteriously show up one day by coincidence. Prior to acquiring Bardock, Frieza himself had supposedly only been that level, believing his untapped potential meaningless. Even Broly and his father had been on the fringes of our lives, tempering the former's genetic aberrancy into a weapon against my family. No one I knew of had such a level of power and been able to remain anonymous. Yet somehow, this woman had just been traipsing the galaxy unknown and _also_ happened to have a connection to me?  
  
If this was something else my father had done...  
  
I'd neared within a few hundred feet of the prison when I realized that not much was left of it. About a third of its span had been consumed and I couldn't see anyone left fighting in the immediate vicinity, though some battled in the distance and I presumed the rest had fled. Sections of the compound smoked but one area in particular caught my attention.  
  
Steel fragments were still crumbling when I touched ground. An enormous crater under open sky, broken only by a few stray shards protruding from the ground, was present where there had once been walls. A humanoid shape with long black hair lay in the centre.  
  
I ran over, despite being able to sense that Korravi couldn't be too hurt for the energy she had remaining. But if she was just lying there something had to be wrong.  
  
“Ouch,” I heard her deadpan right after I ran over to her and had grabbed her shoulder, about to give her a tug. “Oh, it _is_ you.”  
  
“What the hell did you do?” I demanded as I looked her up and down. Like the old man, she was burned, but worse. Her abdomen and lower chest were still intact, but were otherwise a mess of charred flesh and blood. Her expression, however, was calm.  
  
“Tried to save someone's life,” she grunted. “Didn't know they'd picked up one of the cannon things. I guess they don't like Saiyans very much – aimed it right into my stomach when I turned around. Blew up all this after to finish off the warden and his lackeys.”  
  
She stopped talking when I pulled her up, one hand on her arm as I looped it around my shoulder and my other hand around her waist, taking care to avoid her tail.  
  
“You said no touching.”  
  
“Shut up,” I replied. “I said _you_ can't touch _me_. I'm carrying you.” I then lifted us into the air, double checking for enemies and seeing none coming our way before picking up speed.  
  
I realized when no answer was forthcoming that I'd been looking forward, face angled away from her line of sight. So I tilted my head, giving her a hard glare.  
  
“What? It doesn't hurt as bad as it looks,” she said.  
  
“You're deaf, aren't you?” I declared more than asked. “Why didn't you say something?”  
  
Her mouth parted but no words came out.  
  
“You're reading my lips right? Why didn't you just tell me? How long did you think you could hide that? How does that even work? I've been talking a million fucking miles a minute and there's no way you could keep that up as your only form of communication, let alone with more than one person! So there's no way that's possible but I can _see_ you doing it so I know I'm right!”  
  
“I forgot,” she stated.  
  
“What?”  
  
“I forgot. It's normal for me, but I forget it's not for you. I didn't think about it until you mentioned my voice – people usually just assume things and don't ask. I guess, since we'd be working together for awhile, I should have... You already look at me when you talk, most of the time.” She tapped her hand on her throat. “Still had to feel out your name the old-fashioned way, though.”  
  
I gathered my breath to speak again, glanced away, and then back.  
  
“I'm sorry,” I said.  
  
“Sorry?”  
  
“Yeah. I'm sorry for calling you deaf to insult you. Back on the ship. I don't know if you caught it, but I – it can't be easy, hearing nothing at all. Especially when you're a Saiyan.” I pursed my lips in thought. “Can you really not hear _anything_? ”  
  
“... I'm not sure how to answer that. I remember that I could hear some things as a child. But not the sensation itself. Sometimes I think I feel – buzzing. Maybe. It's been so long, I don't think I'd recognize noise if I did hear one.”  
  
“Oh,” I said.  
  
We flew in silence for another minute until I looked back at her.  
  
“So... is this the part where you divulge the rest of your tragic backstory, or do I have to save you again?”  
  
I felt her chuckle rumble through her chest. “I'd be careful about trying that tone of voice with me. Or any kind of tone.” Then she laughed some more.  
  
“I'll make sure to be extra sarcastic with my face in the future.”  
  
When she stopped laughing, she directly met my eyes, like an indicator of taking her turn to speak. Loose ends of her hair brushed my ear and shoulder as she talked.  
  
“I'm looking for my mother," she began abruptly. "She left me behind with my grandfather on Planet Vegeta when I was young. I only know what he told me, but I was supposed to be something important. An experiment designed to recreate the Legendary Super Saiyan. To be a soldier that would restore our people to glory.”  
  
I was certain that by Legendary Super Saiyan, she was referring to the ancient myth and not to Broly. But still, I felt a cold jolt go down my spine before she continued.  
  
“I guess a bunch of things went wrong. Clearly. Instead of killing me, my mother abandoned me. She never came back. When I... left the planet myself, I had no destination. I just wanted to see the stars. But all these years and I never came across a trace of her. I have no idea if she's still alive, but when you said you were trying to find your father, I thought... this whole situation might be the last chance for both of us to find what we're looking for.”  
  
Last chance, indeed. Maybe a wanderer and a prince had more in common than being forced together by circumstance.  
  
“If we're still allies by the end of this,” I said, echoing her earlier words, “I promise I'll do my best to help you. I know what it's like to lose a mother – to have someone leave you behind. I don't have much to offer for information, but I have my strength, if you can promise your strength in return.”  
  
“I'm bad at promises. But I hope things end well, for both of us. We'll see.”  
  
  
                                                                                                      - ~ -  
  
  
When we returned to the old man, he was slumped on his side, not how I'd left him, and I couldn't hear his pulse or breathing.  
  
Korravi and I stood motionless just after entering the room. It smelled like fresh blood – and something else. _Someone_ else. Lingering like they'd just been there.  
  
My unconscious mind recognized it before my functioning awareness did, and procured an image: dark, clawing tattoos, and earthen-shade eyes full of contempt for anything they looked upon.  
  
He was here.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a hundred percent satisfied with how this chapter came out, but I refuse to rewrite it again. What could possibly be going to happen next? Who knows, not me...
> 
> (Also, did any of you happen to guess Ravi was deaf before Trunks did?)


	17. Chapter 17

All was quiet.  
  
I stood out in the street, focusing on nothing but the energy of the world around me. Trying in vain, it seemed, to locate the murderer whom I knew was close by but still evaded me.  
  
“What are you going to do?” Korravi asked from behind me somewhere. So far, she was the only life within a nearby radius. She had limped after me once I'd darted out of the building in my barely contained rage.  
  
All we'd done had been for nothing. I hadn't even gotten the old man's name before that thieving bastard had made sure he wouldn't survive. And for what? Just to get at me?  
  
Soulless son of a bitch was too afraid to fight me man to man. But I was going to drag him out one way or another.  
  
Something tickled my senses. A presence, flickering nearby. For a second I'd been about to make straight for it, but then I paused because – no, it wasn't Daikon. It was –  
  
“Trunks!” my best friend's voice distantly called, aura springing into clarity.  
  
“Goten?” I murmured to myself.  
  
Not a moment later, I spotted him in the sky, a dark bullet against the clouds. He dove for us and touched down skidding a few dozen feet away and then, without breaking stride, jogged over to me. He still wore the same thing I'd last seen him in, but his head was uncovered.  
  
“What in all hell have you been up to?” he demanded, slowing as he neared. “We could feel you using the Ascended form and I thought something might have gone wrong!”  
  
“I'm completely fine. We ransacked a prison and found a Saiyan survivor, but – he didn't make it. Daikon is here in the area somewhere, hiding his energy. Do you have any Senzu beans on you?”  
  
“Woah, wait, one thing at a time. What...” He trailed off when I gestured at Korravi, and his expression became more pensive.  
  
“She got hurt trying to free other prisoners. If you have anything to heal her, that would be helpful. I can explain everything else in more detail later,” I said.  
  
Goten's pause drew out as he seemed to be wrestling with something internally. Then:  
  
“Can I talk to you alone for a minute?” he said.  
  
“... Okay,” I replied, a little thrown off. I turned to face the woman.  
  
“Are you able to hang in there for a couple minutes? I need to talk to Goten,” I relayed in case she'd missed it, extending my arm to her. “Here, I can sit you down somewhere.”  
  
After she gave a single nod, I took a moment to guide her to the nearest building and set her against it, feeling slightly guilty about having abruptly left her before. She could clearly walk, but there was no way it wasn't painful.  
  
She thanked me and, without thinking it over, I gave her a bit of my energy before letting go. She looked up at me in surprise at the sensation but I was already moving away, back to Goten.  
  
When I reached him, he said nothing and gave me a look. I raised an eyebrow.  
  
“What?” I said.  
  
“Nothing. It's just, uh, maybe we should go a little _farther_? Like, out of earshot entirely?”  
  
“She can't hear us, 'Ten. She's... well, almost completely deaf, I think,” I explained.  
  
He looked at me, then raised his eyebrows. “Really? I mean, I thought that could be it, but I've never seen a Saiyan who... had anything like that. Though I suppose it's _not_ something you can see.”  
  
“No. I'm not really sure about how or why, but – she mentioned something about being a failed experiment. To create someone with Broly's power through unnatural means. I'm assuming this was a long time ago and that she has no connection to the man we fought. Even if that was the case she doesn't seem malicious – she's been helping me actually, so what we ought to do is get her to the others for healing and let me deal with Daikon alone.”  
  
“Actually... that's the thing. I didn't just fly over here on my own. Bardock sent me, based on a vision he said he had. We found the PTO headquarters, but he said I needed to be _here_. He – I guess he doesn't think you should fight Daikon alone. I feel like both he and that woman didn't really need help so much as they want something from you. I think Bardock does too.”  
  
“I think it's fairly obvious that Daikon doesn't want my help. I won't speak for Bardock. He's your grandfather, for crying out loud. And Korravi – she may be a deserter but she's looking for someone she lost, just like I am. I had the same doubts you did, but I think if she's able to reason with Daikon, then maybe I won't have to take action.”  
  
“Yeah, but based on what we've seen of the guy, I doubt he's suddenly going to play nice no matter what she says to him. And if you follow that through, she's probably also not going to abandon him for us. They seem pretty close. Are you willing to fight them both?”  
  
“In case anyone's noticed, I've become stronger than any single known being in the galaxy with the exception of maybe Frieza. I'm not in danger from a couple of Saiyan deserters, one injured by the way.”  
  
“No,” Goten said, speaking softly, “you're not the one in danger.”  
  
The implication hung heavy in the air for a moment.  
  
“I trained with the Ascended state for almost two years. I've been training in combat since I could walk and you've known me for almost as long. Don't tell me you're afraid of me killing someone by accident,” I said.  
  
Goten seemed to shrink in on himself further. “Bardock thinks it wouldn't be an accident.”  
  
“And what do you think? Do you honestly believe I'd go that far when I didn't have to? Come on, 'Ten! I just need to knock enough sense into Daikon for him to cooperate after, bare minimum. But he could be getting away the longer we speak.”  
  
“No, I just – I know you just wanted to help. _I_ wanted to help. For all we know those two are the majority of the Saiyans left. They're your people. But there's a lot of pressure on us and it's not like its going to get easier going forward. The place you grew up was blow to bits, you've got the threat of the Colds over your head and on top of that you're trying to keep what's left of the Saiyan race together but... we couldn't even pacify the first survivors we came across! This is not at all what we thought things would be like when we left Earth. We're just wandering around hoping to stumble on answers, and -”  
  
“What do you want me to do?” I snapped. “I _have_ to figure this out, Goten! I have to figure out how to replace my father until I find him!”  
  
“You can't replace your father because you're not the leader he is!” he blurted.  
  
Immediately, his face softened as he took in the sound of his own words and put his hand over his mouth.  
  
“Ah – I – I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that,” he faltered, then reached out for me. “You know I wouldn't – I fucked up. What I meant was – you're not like Vegeta because...”  
  
I batted his hand away.  
  
He was right – he would never say that kind of thing to me and mean it. But he _had_ said it. I could always trust him to be my voice of reason and Goten was not a liar. So even if it had come out wrong, that statement had come from somewhere. The thought made my throat close up.  
  
Damn this. Damn this whole thing. I'd have enough of people fucking around with me.  
  
“Daikon! If you can hear me, come face me! I want to talk to you!” I suddenly heard Korravi's voice echo over the ruins from somewhere nearby. Glancing to where I'd left her, she was obviously not there.  
  
Maybe – maybe if he thought she was alone, he'd come out.  
  
“Trunks, wait,” Goten said behind me as he followed. I was walking away from him, towards the woman's voice.  
  
“If you're not going to help, get lost,” I said over my shoulder. It came out forceless and quiet, but the words themselves bit through the air and he slowed to a stop.  
  
When I realized he really wasn't going to keep after me, I had to fight back the guilt, breaking into a jog as I moved after my target.  
  
  
                                                                                                     - ~ -  
  
  
I waited as close as I dared without revealing myself, around a building corner where I could see what was going on. Korravi stood in the middle of the street, looking around, hoping her former companion would show up.  
  
It was no more than a minute after that a form on a nearby rooftop caught my eye. It seemed her last-minute act of goading him to reason had worked, because there the man stood, drawn out of hiding by the sound of her voice.  
  
He was splattered in several places with a patina of colourful blood, a stark contrast against the rest of his natural and unnatural dark features. Even from here I could see there was no sadistic glee, no thrill of adrenaline in his eyes like I'd expected. Just determination. And then –  
  
There it was. My sword gleamed in his hand. Drawn. Almost as stained as he was. The scabbard rested on his back.  
  
He leapt down from his perch and made a relatively graceful landing, never taking his stare off Korravi who – obviously – was unaware, still facing the other direction.  
  
He took several steps towards her and for a moment I worried he was going to try attacking her blind spot, but then he paused some measure way.  
  
“Oh, turn around already, you big oaf,” I hear him mutter to himself before she coincidentally did just that a moment later. She froze in place upon seeing him.  
  
“Ravi,” he said. The scorn he seemed to hold towards everything that dared to exist within throwing distance atrophied when he looked at her.  
  
“Daikon.”  
  
“You said you wanted to talk. So here I am...” He paused and glanced her over. “The hell happened? You have a giant open wound!”  
  
“Nevermind me. What were you thinking? You took off without saying a word to me.”  
  
“I – there was nothing I could say to you. You wouldn't listen to me, so I left on my own. What the fuck have _you_ been doing to get yourself hurt like that?”  
  
“I got careless. That's all. But I'm not important right now. Tell me why you've done this.”  
  
“I've been doing what I need to – for both of us.”  
  
“Which is what, exactly?”  
  
He stayed silent.  
  
“Daikon... you're slipping out of control. You need to stop this now. Put that down and come here so we can talk properly – I'm not your enemy.” She took a step or two towards him.  
  
“Stay where you are!” he snapped. She stopped moving.  
  
“I'm clear, Ravi. Clear as I ever could be. In fact _I'm_ the one who's been considering what really matters here, while you're still stubbornly pretending this is some kind of game. This isn't a situation you can run away from whenever you fucking feel like it.” His tone was angry, but aside from the exposed blade, his body language was not threatening. “I was counting on you following me. But we don't need to be here. _You_ don't need to be here. We can go back to the way we were, somewhere the Colds can't reach!”  
  
“You mean hide away like cowards. You have the nerve to lecture me on running after that statement?”  
  
“No, I mean _get out of this_ while we can! The woman I met always looked forward, marking her course on her own whims. Why are you degrading yourself to be a pawn in this half-breed's war?”  
  
“I am exactly where I want to be. If you no longer want to be with me... if you're afraid of dying, then you can leave.”  
  
“I'm afraid for _you_! You know I'd follow you anywhere but I'm not going to sit here and watch you throw away all the things that I – throw away your life. Maybe it doesn't fucking matter to you, but it matters to me. Why won't you listen?”  
  
“You... listen... to _me,_ ” she grit out. “If I thought I was going to my death, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have brought you here either. Do you not trust me?”  
  
“You're the only person I trust. It's them I can't stand! You think they give a shit about us? How could you believe in the person who took your grandfather from you more than you believe in me?”  
  
There was a long and weighted pause.  
  
“Oh... So that's why you're still here, isn't it?” he went on. “You think you'll get some form of closure? Or are you afraid if something happens to that so-called prince, your dear grandfather's sacrifice will become even more useless? And here I thought you might have just wanted revenge.”  
  
Still, she was quiet.  
  
“Say something, damn it! I know you can understand me!” Daikon snapped.  
  
“If you try to fight him,” Korravi stated calmly, “you'll lose. That I know. And unless you return what you stole, you'll have no choice.”  
  
I stepped out. I'd heard enough to know she wasn't getting anywhere.  
  
Then Daikon laughed, sharp and disparaging.  
  
“I'm well aware the _Prince of All Saiyans_ is stronger,” he said mockingly, turning partway to face me and redirect his words. “Much stronger, in fact. But I've been fighting people stronger than me my whole damn life. And until this day, I'm the one who's been left standing.”  
  
“I was going to give you one more chance to settle this without a fight,” I said. “If she was willing to try it, then there must be something in you capable of understanding. However, I can't make up for something that I don't even know I've done. To either of you. Stand down and tell me why you're doing this – you stole my sword and used it to kill one of our own. For what? What do you want?”  
  
“That doesn't matter to you. What _is_ going to matter will be the information that old Saiyan gave to me, before he died. If you must know, I didn't kill him. Or didn't you check that before storming off after me? The injuries he already had did him in – once he felt he'd done his duty towards a fellow survivor and told me where he thought the save haven was. Who knows if he's right or wrong? Maybe we'll leave that to Ravi...” Daikon trailed off.  
  
He broke eye contact with me to turn back to her, just for a moment. Then, he started to speak. But not with his voice. His lips were moving in silence, forming words that were flying by everyone but her. In vain I attempted to see if I could make out even a syllable, but there wasn't enough time to even begin analyzing just one of the letter's shapes. It was a language meant for someone else – I hadn't realized how impossible it was after spending my whole life relying on... something as simple as sound. Even if Daikon was bluffing, it was maddening.  
  
“Cut that out!” I finally snapped in frustration. “You must want something from me, or you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble for leverage.”  
  
“Hmph. What I've told her isn't leverage for me. Now _this_ ,” he said, facing me once more and tossing my sword from hand to hand, “is what's going to help get me what I want. It's quite the masterpiece.” He ran his eyes up the blade, twisting it in the grey light. “The edge hasn't dulled in the slightest, considering all those soldiers I hacked up. It can't be ordinary metal – no, you'd need a weapon suitable for killing gods on this quest of yours. Suitable for killing Frieza or anyone else as strong as you.”  
  
“I don't know about that. My last one broke when I overestimated its abilities against a stronger opponent. I'd caution you against being so reckless – a sword is only as good as the one who wields it.”  
  
“Care to find out how good I am, you half-breed freak?”  
  
“You have some nerve calling me a freak when those marks you've defaced yourself with make you look like some kind of demon.”  
  
He blinked in surprise, and then snarled. “You think I did this to _myself_?”  
  
“I wouldn't have put it past you.”  
  
“Fuck you,” he said. “You don't know shit about me.”  
  
“And you don't know shit about _me_ , but you're so full of hatred you decided to project it on me just because I rub you the wrong way?”  
  
“Yeah, you fuckin' rub me the wrong way. But I know your type. You're everything I hate, wrapped up into one self-righteous prick. You say you're going to rescue your father and kill Frieza, but you have no resolve. It's idiot fucking ideologies like yours that get people killed!”  
  
“The hell are you talking about? Frieza destroyed my planet! He held my father enslaved for most of his life! He's targeting my people for a genocide and is responsible for the misery of millions -”  
  
“You've never saw him do this. You never saw him do any of this shit let alone experienced it yourself! All you have against him is that he _maybe_ has your father captive – not even murdered – and been _told_ terrible things he's done that you have no direct connection with. Quit pretending you're some force of justice and just admit it: you couldn't give less of a fuck about anyone's loyalty for you when _you_ aren't even doing this for you!”  
  
“How could you possibly know what I feel?!” I snapped.  
  
“Because it's all over your face! It's how you act! If you really believe the Colds are tyrants and they're the force of evil, why haven't you been killing any of their soldiers? Those people cast their lot with your enemy but there's not a spot of blood on you!”  
  
I tried to retort something, but nothing came out.  
  
“Are you even prepared to take Frieza's life? I sure as hell don't think you're capable of that. You act like it's due to you being on some moral high ground, but it's because you have no personal stakes in this war except your shallow pride. And that's why Frieza's going to _mop the floor_ with you. You aren't prepared to sacrifice a damn thing,” he spat.  
  
He was wrong. He was wrong, he was _wrong_ , yet I had no words to articulate why. I only felt seething rage, coursing from my chest and through my body until it was forced to halt at my clenched hands.  
  
“You can break as many of my bones as you like, half-breed, but you won't kill me. And it's not because you want the information I have. It's because it's not your body that's weak... it's your spirit. You're unwilling to do what's necessary because you're not a prince: you're naive and you're a coward _,_ afraid to sully yourself for another's sake. And it's going to get us all killed.”  
  
  
                                                                                                     - ~ -  
  
  
I knew he'd said what he did to get a rise out of me. It was what he wanted – me angry so I'd get reckless. Even so, at its core, the provocation damned us both.  
  
If I'd been able to feel pity at that moment, I might have. Not for myself. For him, because I was in the mood to grant his wish, and I couldn't stand there and accept a single putrid word that had come out of his mouth and ingrained itself in my mind.  
  
“If you want me to kill so badly,” came a tight, low growl that hardly sounded like my own voice, “ _maybe I should start with you_.”  
  
Without fully realizing I'd moved, I was in front of him. He barely had time through his shock to raise the sword to block my punch, and I felt my knuckles hit the flat of the blade. The metallic ring sang across our surroundings and dust scattered, the force of my attack having pushed Daikon back several feet until he skidded to a stop, blowing far past Korravi.  
  
I didn't wait for him to recover, darting forward again. He was more prepared this time and I had to halt a few arm lengths away to avoid the sword tip that hissed through the air a breath away from my chest. He didn't stop there – to keep me at a distance, he manoeuvred the blade almost as skilled as I would have, slashing back and forth just fast enough to keep me dodging. He clearly had some background in swordsmanship, though brief observation of his form and grip indicated a different style, perhaps more suited for a curved blade. Something I could use against him, if I would even need it.  
  
Another swing at my head. I leaned back just far enough to avoid it and then sprang my legs up, right foot striking his wrist. His arm snapped up and set him off-balance, and I used one of my arms to push off the ground and twist so my other boot could catch him in the ribs. The force pushed him back but he managed to keep ahold of his balance and the sword.  
  
From the angle of my attack I'd landed flat on my hands and feet, inches from the ground but without taking my eyes off my opponent. He was already diving back at me and slashing downwards so I sprang up and aside and the blade cut into the ground, but it was shallower than I'd anticipated and with surprising speed he whipped it back across and it caught me across the upper arm and then, using the inertia of his swing, flipped the hilt into a reverse grip to use both his fist and the pommel to bash me in the jaw.  
  
The gouge on my bicep was shallow and the blow to my face would be no more than a bruise, but they had caused me to stagger back – perhaps a little in shock that I'd somehow let them land at all.  
  
Instead of pursuing me, Daikon paused for a moment while the sting of his attacks sunk in, waiting for me to retaliate.  
  
Oh, how I wanted to give him all he'd asked for and more. I _wanted_ to break his bones. I wanted to break his face until he couldn't spew any more of his vile, repulsive garbage in our ears. I felt it so strongly any misgivings of my conscience were swept from my mind like dead leaves in the wind, all except for one that refused to leave my peripheral mind. One that refused to let go of _why_.  
  
Why would he want to keep provoking me to transform? If he had any tricks up his sleeve then he would be using them now, while I was in my weakest state. Was he just that arrogant or stupid?  
  
His eyes never wavered from mine. There was indeed an intelligence behind them, but – also a strange glint. The look of someone standing on the edge of a cliff, teetering over the irreversible drop.  
  
“What's the matter, Your Highness? Nobody ever dared to hit that pretty face before?” he mocked. “I can take the piss out of you all day, so unless you quit fucking around and give us both the satisfaction of seeing your true power, you'll never be capable of breaking me.”  
  
Some part of my pride had wanted to take him down without transforming at all. Some part of me had still wanted to hold back, just to show him that he couldn't get to me. It was then that I decided maybe it didn't matter. Maybe with a man like him, there really was only one way to get through – by crushing him.

 


End file.
